Haliclona (Soestella) roslynae, Sim-Smith & Hickman & Kelly, 2021

Sim-Smith, Carina, Hickman, Cleveland & Kelly, Michelle, 2021, New shallow-water sponges (Porifera) from the Galápagos Islands, Zootaxa 5012 (1), pp. 1-71 : 22

Haliclona (Soestella) roslynae sp. nov.

( Fig.10 , Table 2)

Material examined. Holotype — MCCDRS9443, Punta Vicente Roca , Isabela Island, 0.049° S, 91.558° W, 18 m, 15 Nov 2003.

Type locality. Punta Vicente Roca , Isabela Island .

Habitat and distribution. Only known from type locality. Found growing on rock; 18 m.

Description. Thickly encrusting, cavernous sponge, ≤ 10 mm thick, with a densely punctate surface. Large, raised oscules, ≤ 5 mm in diameter, are scattered over the surface. Colour in life is a beautiful, translucent water- melon pink with tinges of yellow and purple, colour in ethanol is golden brown ( Fig. 10A–B ). Texture is very soft, friable.

Skeleton. Choanosome is a loose subisotropic reticulation of small oxeas that form rounded meshes around frequent choanosomal spaces ( Fig. 10C ). Ill-defined paucispicular primary tracts are visible in places, connected by unispicular secondary tracts ( Fig. 10D ). Ectosome is a marked, loosely formed tangential reticulation ( Fig. 10E ); spongin is present at nodes.

Spicules. Megascleres— small oxeas, slightly curved with sharply pointed tips; 107 (93–117) × 6 (5–7) µm (n = 20) ( Fig. 10F ).

Etymology. Named for Roslyn Cameron, a local face and voice for Galápagos conservation representing the Charles Darwin Foundation since 1997, and liaison to the US-based Galápagos Conservancy from 2012. Roslyn was often the first point of contact for innumerable visitors, media representatives, and donors to the Galápagos.

Remarks. Haliclona (S.) roslynae sp. nov. is a different colour in life and has smaller oxeas than Haliclona (S.) spuma sp. nov. and has a substantially denser choanosomal and ectosomal skeleton.

Haliclona (S.) roslynae sp. nov. can be differentiated from the only other tropical/subtropical eastern Pacific Haliclona (Soestella) species, H. caerulea , by the lack of microscleres. The six species of Haliclona (subgenus unknown) from the eastern Pacific, as described for Haliclona (H.) clairae sp. nov. above, all differ from this species as outlined in Table 2.

Figures

FIGURE 10. Haliclona (Soestella) roslynae sp. nov. holotype, MCCDRS9443: A. Deck photo; B. Preserved specimen. C. Cross section of the choanosome of the holotype showing the ill-defined, paucispicular primary tracts (arrows). D. Higher magnification of the choanosome showing of the paucispicular primary tracts (black arrow) and unispicular secondary tracts (white arrow). E. Surface view of sponge showing the tangential ectosome. F. Oxeas.