Lamellodysidea herbacea (Keller, 1889)

Putra, Singgih Afifa, Ambo-Rappe, Rohani, Jompa, Jamaluddin & de Voogd, Nicole J., 2024, Preliminary study of marine sponges (Porifera) in the littoral of Spermonde Archipelago, Indonesia, ZooKeys 1208, pp. 275-313 : 275-313

Lamellodysidea herbacea (Keller, 1889)

Fig. 24

Diagnostic features.

Live specimen found was white to pale green in color, and grey after preservation. This species habitus is soft, fragile, slick, thin (<1 cm thick), and has an encrusting basal plate with a complex labyrinthine wall-like pattern. Skeleton structure forming interconnected reticulate fibers with several adjacent spicules. Various of microsymbionts (cyanobacteria) are found inhabiting it. Currently there only two species of Lamellodysidea , Lamellodysidea herbacea (Keller, 1889) and Lamellodysidea chlorea ( de Laubenfels, 1954) , both confused with each other. Lamellodysidea herbacea is known to be common in the sub-intertidal zone of the coral reef, which is exposed to sunlight ( Putchakarn 2007). Molecular analysis shows Lamellodysidea herbacea is a diverse group and consists of several distinct lineages of the alleged single species, and has probably been misidentified in the past with undescribed lineages due to superficial resemblances ( Erpenbeck et al. 2012).

Distribution and ecology.

Our specimen was collected from Samalona Island, the Spermonde Archipelago; reef flat. This species was previously recorded from the Red Sea ( Row 1911), India ( George et al. 2020), Thailand ( Putchakarn 2007), the Spermonde Archipelago ( de Voogd et al. 2006), and the Great Barrier Reef ( Hooper 2008).

Figures

Figure 24. Habitus in situ of Lamellodysidea herbacea (Keller, 1889) at Samalona Island, the Spermonde Archipelago (photograph by SAP).