Cliona euryphylle Topsent, 1888

Pacheco, Cristian, Carballo, José Luis, Cortés, Jorge, Segovia, Johanna & Trejo, Alejandra, 2018, Excavating sponges from the Pacific of Central America, descriptions and a faunistic record, Zootaxa 4370 (5), pp. 451-491 : 459-461

Cliona euryphylle Topsent, 1888

Material examined. MZUCR.180: Isla del Caño , 4 m, 1984, coll. Jorge Cortés Núñez . MZUCR.374: Bahía Salinas, 20 m, 8.XII.2010, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano . CIMAR.PL.04: Playa Mantas , 4 m, 11.IV.2011, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano.

External morphology. Only in alpha morphology. Circular papillae protruding above substrate, 3 mm in diameter. Live color orange.

Excavation. Multicamerate erosion. Ovoid chambers between 1 and 2.5 mm in diameter ( Fig. 8A ). Diameters of sponge erosion scars ranging from 28 to 70 µm, with subtle circular ridges and sharp edges ( Fig. 8B ).

Spicules. Megascleres subtly curved tylostyles with pronounced tyles ( Fig. 9 ). Tyles round to oval and often slightly subterminal. Microscleres rubust spirasters with discrete or bi-split, conical spines, in helical distribution on convex shaft sides or in amphiasterose distribution at shaft ends. Most spirasters short and commonly straight, but S-shaped and longer, helical forms occur ( Fig. 9 ). Tylostyle dimensions 1 20–300 µm (x̅ =201, σ=48.3) x 5–8 µm (x̅ =6.7, σ=1.4). Spirasters dimensions 9-24 µm (x̅ =18, σ=4.1) x 2-7 µm (x̅ =4.7, σ=1.6).

Ecology. Found in dead Pavona sp. and P. lobata between 4 and 20 m depth.

Distribution and previous records. The species was described by Topsent in 1888 from the southern Gulf of Mexico. A report by Bergquist (1968) from New Zealand and by Laubenfels (1954) in the Central Pacific may or may not be conspecific with C. euryphylle . In the last decade Carballo et al. (2004, 2008a) and Vega (2012) have reported the species along the Pacific shores of Mexico. Here we extend the species distribution and present the first record for Costa Rica and for the Mesoamerican Pacific ( Fig. 10 ).

Remarks. C. euryphylle appears to be the morphologically most similar known species that best compares to our material. However, it was originally described from the other side of the Mesoamerican isthmus ( Topsent 1888), and thus earlier reports of this species from the Pacific have been regarded as inaccurate ( Soest et al. 2016). Berguist’s (1968) account from temperate New Zealand may not be for C. euryphylle , because it concerns a sponge with a spiraster crust, which was not mentioned by Topsent (1888); but he did list such crusts for other species in other publications. Bergquist erroneously assumed C. euryphylle to be of East Pacific origin, and her material should be re-assessed. Laubenfels’ (1954) report of C. euryphylle from the Micronesian Pohnpei lacks in detail, so that no adequate comparison can be made based on that publication, but he listed other, presently recognized species with a similar spicule complement, namely the Mediterranean Cliona burtoni Topsent, 1932 , and Cliona aethiopicus Burton, 1932 from the Gulf of Guinea. The spicule dimensions of C. burtoni and C. aethiopicus fit into the size range provided above ( Burton 1932; Topsent 1932), but like C. euryphylle these two species occur in the wrong ocean, were sampled at even larger distance from the present study sites than C. euryphylle , and are here tentatively disregarded as possible conspecifics. C. burtoni also differs from our material by having different tyle and spiraster shapes ( Topsent 1932; Bertolino et al. 2013). C. aethiopicus has not been reported by anyone since the original description. Another similar species is Cliona caledoniae Soest & Beglinger, 2009 , but its tylostyles are larger than in the present samples, and its spirasters not as variable ( Soest & Beglinger 2009). It is a coldtemperate Atlantic species and unlikely to be a taxonomic match.

C. euryphylle has previously been reported from the Mexican Pacific by Carballo et al. (2004), and we presently follow their taxonomic decision. We assume that the species may have crossed the isthmus via the Panama Canal. However, future studies should include molecular analyses comparing C. euryphylle from both sides of the isthmus to assess whether they are really conspecific or represent cryptic species as have been distinguished during earlier studies when comparing morphological similar sponges of the Mesoamerican Pacific and Atlantic ( Boury-Esnault et al. 1999).

Figures

FIGURE 8. Cliona euryphylle bioerosion. A) Erosion chamber (arrow) and B) erosion scars.

FIGURE 9. Spicules of Cliona euryphylle: A) tylostyles, with one short derivate, B) morphologic variation of heads of tylostyles, C) morphologic variations of spirasters.

FIGURE10. Distribution of Cliona euryphylle in the study area.