Mycale (Naviculina) Gray, 1867

Van, Rob W. M., Aryasari, Ratih & De, Nicole J., 2021, Mycale species of the tropical Indo-West Pacific (Porifera, Demospongiae, Poecilosclerida), Zootaxa 4912 (1), pp. 1-212 : 146-147

Subgenus Mycale (Naviculina) Gray, 1867

Naviculina Gray, 1867: 538 .

Mycale (Naviculina) ; Hajdu 1999: 225; Van Soest & Hajdu 2002: 681.

Type species. Naviculina cliftoni Gray, 1867: 538 (= Mycale (Naviculina) cliftoni ).

Remarks. Hajdu (1999) re-erected and reviewed the subgenus, confirmed by Van Soest & Hajdu (2002). The subgenus is easily recognized by possession of the peculiar naviculichelae, defined by Hajdu as having ‘complete or near fusion of both frontal alae, falx markedly expanded along the shaft, lateral alae of the head projecting backward and upward’. To this definition may be added that in most cases the two sides of naviculichelae are slightly or distinctly different from each other, they are not mirrored. The type species is Naviculina cliftoni Gray, 1867 (see below). Currently (Van Soest et al. 2020), 14 species been have assigned to this subgenus, distributed over all three oceans. However, several species are suspect: the distinctness of Vacelet & Vasseur’s (1971) M. (N.) cleistochela and flagellifera, and Pulitzer-Finali’s (1996) M. (N.) peculiaris is here contested (see below), while membership of Mycale thaumatochela Lundbeck, 1905 of the subgenus M. ( Naviculina ) is doubtful. This latter species is not likely a member of Naviculina , the naviculichela is different, e.g. the lower frontal ala is not fused with the upper ala, and the species does not have an aegogropila-type ectosomal skeleton. It is likely a Carmia with peculiar chelae. Moreover, Koltun (1959: 15) declares Mycale varpachovskii ( Swartschewsky, 1906) (p. 361) a junior synonym of M. thaumatochela and this likewise lacks an aegogropila-type ectosomal skeleton.

Two species described below possess flagelliform sigmas, M. (N.) cleistochela and a new species. These sigmas are uncommon, but not restricted to those presented here. They are found in Caribbean M. (N.) diversisigmata Van Soest, 1984 , but also in non- Mycale species, such as Japanese Esperiopsis variussigma Hoshino, 1981 , and the cosmopolitan subgenus Haliclona (Flagellia) Van Soest, 2017 .

Surprisingly, Hooper & Wiedenmayer (1994: 293) assigned Mycale (Arenochalina) mirabilis ( Von Lendenfeld, 1887) to Naviculina , without explanation. This is not a member of the present subgenus.