Ircinia paucifilamentosa Vacelet, 1961

Manconi, Renata, Cadeddu, Barbara, Ledda, Fabio & Pronzato, Roberto, 2013, An overview of the Mediterranean cave-dwelling horny sponges (Porifera, Demospongiae), ZooKeys 281, pp. 1-68 : 22

Ircinia paucifilamentosa Vacelet, 1961 Fig. 17

Ircinia paucifilamentosa Vacelet, 1961a: 354.

Description.

This specie was described on behalf of two fragments of "an irregular massive specimen with osculiferous lobes". Conules few, irregularly high and scattered. Colour reported as “light” in alcohol. Consistency lax, similar to Cacospongia species. Dermal membrane reinforced by rare sand grains, easy to remove. Skeleton network of primary fibres cored and anastomosed with secondaries free of foreign materials (dimensions not reported in the original description). Filaments very rare (9-13 µm in diameter) with an irregular globular termination (25-45 µm in diameter). Flagellate chambers 25-35 µm in diameter.

Habitat.

Cave. Bathymetric range 1-3 m.

Mediterranean caves.

Only known from a few caves in the Aegean Sea at Kastelorizo (type locality), Trypia, Farà and Agios Vasilios caves ( Vacelet 1961a; Voultsiadou-Koukoura and Koukouras 1993; Pronzato and Manconi 2011; Gerovasileiou and Voultsiadou 2012).