Axinyssa yumae ( Pulitzer-Finali, 1986 )

Zea, Sven, Valderrama, Diego & Martínez, Ana María, 2013, Axinyssa ambrosia and Axinyssa yumae (Porifera, Halichondrida): two valid sponge species from the Caribbean Sea, Zootaxa 3682 (3), pp. 495-500 : 497

Axinyssa yumae ( Pulitzer-Finali, 1986)

Figs. 2 , 3 D–F

Dictyonella yumae Pulitzer-Finali, 1986: 118 , fig. 38.

Leucophloeus lewisi van Soest and Stentoft, 1988: 95, fig. 46.

Axinyssa lewisi ; Diaz et al., 1991: 146 (in part, holotype).

Axinyssa ambrosia ; van Soest et al. 1990: 27 (in part, holotypes of Leucophloeus lewisi and of Dictyonella yumae , and specimen from Puerto Rico); Diaz et al. 1993: 289 (in part, holotype of Leucophloeus lewisi and ZMA Por. 3569).

[Non: Axinyssa ambrosia de Laubenfels, 1936: 135 (a valid species of Axinyssa ; synonymy suggested by van Soest et al. 1990: 27 and Diaz et al. 1993: 289)].

Material examined. Holotype MSNG 47694 (tissue slide of specimen R.N.BY.17, deposited in ZMA), Boca de Yuma, Dominican Republic, 15–25 m, coll. G. Pulitzer-Finali, 24 April 1964. ZMA Por. 5401 (holotype of Leucophloeus lewisi van Soest & Stentoft, 1988; fragment INV–POR 0514), 0.5 miles of Holetown, Barbados, 100 m, coll. P.W. Hummelinck, 19 Febr. 1964. Material id. by R.W.M. van Soest as A. ambrosia : ZMA Por. 3569 (fragment INV–POR 0515), Puerto Rico, 18o15’N, 65o15.5’W, 40–50 fathoms, muddy sand, coll. J.M. Stock, 21 Febr. 1963; ZMA Por. 8549 (fragment INV–POR 0516), ZMA Por. 8444 (fragment INV–POR 0517), St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, coll. W.B. Gladfelter. Material from Santa Marta, Colombia, coll. by S. Zea: INV–POR 0518 (7 Sept. 1983), INV–POR 0524 (2 Sept. 1999) Punta de Betín, Bahía de Santa Marta, reef base, 20 m; ICN –MHN(Po) 0172 (28 Sept. 1987), Ensenada Granate, reef terrace, 15–16 m; INV–POR 1256 (6 May 2010), El Morro, Bahía de Santa Marta, reef slope, 16 m.

Description. Groups of volcano-shaped mounds to tubes or cylindrical branches, 2–15 cm high, 2–5 cm wide, arise from a basal mass, up to 10–15 cm wide. Surface rugose, sometimes honeycombed, loosely to heavily fouled. Oscules on top of mounds, up to 1 cm in diameter, with a slightly elevated collar. Consistency toughly compressible, spiculose, difficult to tear. Color orange-yellow, with brownish, reddish and vinaceous tinges; interior cream; fixed specimens cream. Ectosome organic; pinacoderm supported and pierced by choanosomal spicule tracts. Choanosome noncavernous; skeleton dense, made of closely packed ascending tracts, 2–10 spicules across, up to 180 µm wide, more confused below the surface. Spicules slightly curved anysostrongyloxeas (fusiform styles), with the rounded end narrower than the middle, and the pointed end stair-stepped to mucronated; length 606–1316 µm (specimen means 727– 1121 µm); width 5.2–37.4 µm (specimen means 12.2–18.8 µm).

Distribution and ecology. Dominican Republic ( Pulitzer-Finali 1986), Puerto Rico (van Soest et al. 1990), St. Croix ( U.S. Virgin Islands), Barbados (van Soest & Stentoft 1988), Colombia (Santa Marta). At Santa Marta it is less abundant than A. ambrosia , growing on dead sides or on top of dead corals, and on sand and rubble, 15–25 m in depth. Elsewhere it has been recorded from 15 to 100 m, in one case in muddy bottom.

Remarks. For differences with A. ambrosia , see above. Leucophloeus lewisi , described by van Soest and Stentoft

(1988) is here placed under A. yumae from its anysostrongyloxeas.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Axynissa yumae. Photomicrographs of spicules (A) and of cross-section of the skeleton at the surface (B).

FIGURE 3. Underwater photographs of Axinyssa ambrosia (A, B, C) and Axinyssa yumae (D, E, F) at Santa Marta, Colombia. Each square in the white grid in (B) is 1 cm on a side.