Leucosolenia Bowerbank, 1864

Borojevic, Radovan, Boury-Esnault, Nicole & Vacelet, Jean, 2000, A revision of the supraspecific classification of the subclass Calcaronea (Porifera, class Calcarea), Zoosystema 22 (2), pp. 203-263 : 216

Genus Leucosolenia Bowerbank, 1864

TYPE SPECIES. — Spongia botryoides Ellis & Solander, 1786 by original designation.

DIAGNOSIS. — Leucosoleniidae in which the skeleton can consist of diactines, triactines and/or tetractines. There is no reinforced external layer on the tubes.

DESCRIPTION

While the genus Leucosolenia is morphologically very homogenous, it is nonetheless cosmopolitan and includes numerous species. The asconoid tubes may be creeping and only rarely branched, or be copiously ramified but not anastomosed; they may form a large arborescent cormus such as seen in L. complicata (Montagu, 1818) . The cormus of Leucosolenia is always simple, without subdivisions or differentiations into regions with distinct functions, although in larger specimens the central and proximal tubes are usually wider than the distal ones ( Fig. 14).