Abyssocladia escheri, Ekins & Erpenbeck & Hooper, 2020

Ekins, Merrick, Erpenbeck, Dirk & Hooper, John N. A., 2020, Carnivorous sponges from the Australian Bathyal and Abyssal zones collected during the RV Investigator 2017 Expedition, Zootaxa 4774 (1), pp. 1-159 : 8-23

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.4774.1.1

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:B0C4A2F8-F2AB-4147-BB12-63720EEF2516

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3846415

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/49779C5D-8130-4573-808D-1CAB9F5469CE

taxon LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:act:49779C5D-8130-4573-808D-1CAB9F5469CE

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Abyssocladia escheri
status

sp. nov.

Abyssocladia escheri View in CoL sp. nov.

Figure 2 View FIGURE 2 , Tables 1 View TABLE 1 & 2 View TABLE 2

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:49779C5D-8130-4573-808D-1CAB9F5469CE

Material examined: Holotype: QM G337545 , off Fraser Island , Station 115, Queensland, Australia, 25 o 19’31.1”– 25° 21’ 4.7” S, 154 o 4’5.9”– 154° 4’ 33.6” E, 2350– 2342 m, Beam Trawl, Coll. Merrick Ekins on RV Investigator, Cruise IN2017_ V03 , Sample 115–126, 11/vi/2017. GoogleMaps

Paratypes: QM G337546 off Fraser Island , Station 115, Queensland, Australia, 25 o 19’31.1”– 25° 21’ 4.7” S, 154 o 4’5.9”– 154° 4’ 33.6” E, 2350– 2342 m, Beam Trawl, Coll. Merrick Ekins on GoogleMaps RV Investigator, Cruise IN2017_ V03 , sample 115–144, 11/vi/2017 ; QM G337506 same collection data as QM G337546, Sample 115–144.1 GoogleMaps ; QM G337507 same collection data as QM G337546, Sample 115–144.2 GoogleMaps .

Etymology: Named after the Dutch artist Mauritus Cornelis Escher, 1898–1972, for the shape of the abyssochelae resembling a 3D puzzle similar to something that Escher might have illustrated.

Distribution: This species is presently known only from the type locality off Fraser Island, Queensland, Australia, at abyssal depth.

Description: Growth form: Erect, pedunculate sponges up to 305 mm long and 20 mm thick at the widest part of the body, anchored in muddy substrate by a multi-furcate rhizoid basal root, with a club-shaped to conical, fleshy body and long, irregularly branching filaments that extend laterally at the apex of the sponge. The stem is up to 250 mm long and only 0.15 mm wide. The main body including filaments is 39 mm in length, and including the filaments 20 mm wide. The filaments themselves are up to 10 mm in length and 0.5 mm in width. The remainders of the basal rhizoid rootlets are 15 mm long and 0.3 mm wide.

Colour: Pale cream to orange on deck and beige in ethanol.

Ectosomal skeleton: The ectosome of both the stem and the filaments consists of soft tissue encrusted with abyssochelae.

Endosomal skeleton: The body, filaments and axis of the stem are composed of tightly bound, long, thin mycalostyles longitudinally arranged. The basal rhizoid rootlet also consists of longitudinally aligned axes of substrongyles that are shorter than those styles in the remainder of the sponge.

Megascleres: Mycalostyles in the filaments and stem are long, thin and straight with sharp points (615– 1280 x 7.0– 15.2 µm). Substrongyles from the roots are shorter and thicker, sometimes curved, often with blunt ends (92–555 x 3.4–16.7 µm) (see Table 2 View TABLE 2 ).

Microscleres: Abyssochelae with curved shaft (18.4–53.1 x 10.2–24.0 µm). In the smaller abyssochelae, the frontal and lateral alae are usually in contact with the alae offset from the opposing ones. In larger abyssochelae these alae become separated from those opposing alae. Abyssochelae of intermediate sizes were also present (see Table 2 View TABLE 2 ).

Molecular data: The 28S sequence of QM G337545 and G337546 are provided in the Sponge Barcoding Database under accession number SBD#2302, SBD#2303 respectively and the molecular difference to other congenerics displayed in Figure 3 View FIGURE 3 .

Remarks: The presence of abyssochelae indicates this species belongs to the genus Abyssocladia . On gross morphology alone most species within this genus fall into three groups: ‘centipedes’ (feather-shaped), ‘bottlebrushes’ (short peduncle, large body), or ‘lollypops’ (with long pedunculate stems). The pedunculate species include A. bruuni Lévi, 1964 , A. carcharias Kelly & Vacelet, 2011 , A. claviformis Koltun, 1970 , A. desmophora ( Hooper & Lévi, 1989) , A. dominalba Vacelet, 2006 , A. fryerae Hestetun et al., 2019 , A. huitzilopochtli Vacelet, 2006 , A. inflata Vacelet, 2006 , A. kellyae Hestetun et al., 2019 , A. lakwollii Vacelet & Kelly, 2014 , A. marianensis Hestetun et a l., 2019, A. natushimae Ise & Vacelet, 2010 , A. oxeata Koltun, 1970 , A. polycephalus Hestetun et al., 2016 c , A. stegosaurensis Hestetun et al., 2019 and A. villosa . Abyssocladia that resemble ‘centipedes’ include: A. atlantica Lopes & Hajdu, 2014 , A. corniculiphora Hestetun et al., 2017a , A. diegoramirezensis Lopes et al., 2011 , A. faranauti Hestetun et al., 2015 , A. leverhulmei Goodwin et al., 2017 , A. myojinensis Ise & Vacelet, 2010 , A. naudur Vacelet, 2006 , A. tecta Hestetun et al., 2015 , and A. umbellata Lopes et al., 2011 . The third group, resembling ‘bottlebrushes’, include A. boletiphora Hestetun et al., 2017a , A. flagrum ( Lehnert et al., 2006) , A. hemiradiata Hestetun et al., 2017a and A. symmetrica ( Ridley & Dendy, 1886) . There is a solitary species that has a ‘bush-shaped’ anastomosing branched morphology representing multiple peduncles: A. koltuni ( Ereskovsky & Willenz, 2007) .

Abyssocladia escheri sp. nov. is unique amongst this genus in its relatively large size (up to 30 cm total length, exceeded only by A. flagrum from the Aleutian Islands, which measures 54 cm in length); having reduced spiculation consisting only of styles as megascleres and abyssochelae as microscleres; and comparative spicule dimensions (see Table 1 View TABLE 1 ). The abyssochelae of A. escheri sp. nov. resemble in shape those of A. natushimae from the North Pacific. However the abyssochelae in this new species are much smaller than those of A. natushimae (18.4-(29.3)- 53.1 µm vs. 38-(54)- 75 µm, respectively), and additionally A. escheri sp. nov. lacks the sigmancistras and microstrongyles that are present in A. natushimae .

TABLE 1. Comparative morphological and distributional data for all known species of Abyssocladia.

Species Reference Morphology Total height x width (mm) Skeleton Spicules of main axis (LxW μm) Spicules of lateral filaments or body (LxW μm) Spicules of basal attachment (LxW μm) Chelae (L μm) Sigmancistr as (L μm) Sigmas Locality, (L μm) depth range and other microscleres
Abyssocladia escheri sp. nov. this work ‘Pedunculate’, erect, with long very thin stem, multi-furcate root-like basal holdfast processes, and club-shaped to conical body with irregular lateral filaments 305 x 20 ‘Pedunculate’, body and filaments supported by longitudinal bundles of longer styles, basal root-like processes with longitudinally aligned shorter style, stem contains both types of styles but mainly the shorter ones shorter styles 92–555 x 3.4–16.7 longer styles 615–1280 x 7.0–15.2 shorter styles 92–555 x 3.4–16.7 Abyssochelae 18.4–53.1 x 10.2–24.0 absent absent off Fraser Island, Queensland, Australia, bathyal
Abyssocladia annae sp. nov. this work ‘Pedunculate’, erect stem supporting a slightly cupped- shaped obovate (leaf-like, flabellate, fan-shaped) apical body, lacking lagteral filaments 3 x 2 Peduncle axis longitudinally arranged subtylostyles, body with radiating subtylostyles projecting only in one quadrant subtylostyles 288-(504)-1000 x 3.1-(7.4)-15.2 undifferentiated absent Abyssochelae 48.2-(60.6)-72.2 x 5.1-(9.7)-14.9 11.6-(15.6)- 18.5 absent off the continental shelf of central New South Wales, Australia, abyssal
Abyssocladia gliscofila sp. nov. this work ‘Pedunculate’, erect, long thin stem, inflated filaments increasingly longer towards the apex, furcate root-like basal holdfast with fine basal rootlets anastomosing from roots 120–130 x 0.15–1.0 Peduncle axis, filaments and upper basal holdfast roots tightly bound longitudinal tracts of mycalostyles, axis of basal rootlets tightly bound longitudinal tracts of styles. Mycalostyles 319–1560 x 2.0–22.7 undifferentiated Styles 179–470 x 4–10.2 Arcuate isochelae 22.4–42 x 1.5–7 absent absent continental slope adjacent to the central and northern New South Wales coast, Australia, mesophotic -bathyal

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TABLE 2. Spicule dimensions (µm) of the holotype and paratypes of Abyssocladia escheri sp. nov.

Specimen Abyssochelae Mycalostyles Substrongyles
QM G337545 Holotype 18.4-(31.1)-53.1 x 10.0-(15.9)-23.5, n=140 745-(979)-1180 x 7.0-(9.8)-13.4, n=53 92-(346)-531 x 3.4-(7.4)-12.9, n=59
QM G337506 Paratype 20.0-(27.9)-48.1 x 10.9-(15.2)-24.0, n=41 712-(997)-1180 x 6.0-(10.6)-15.2, n=44 271-(424)-555 x 4.7-(8.3)-11.9, n=32
QM G337507 Paratype 21.6-(30.8)-45.0 x 11.6-(16.0)-22.0, n=29 615-(998)-1280 x 6.0-(9.8)-15.2, n=41 261-(384)-551 x 4.6-(10.7)-14.3, n=40
QM G337546 Paratype 19.3-(27.1)-44.7 x 10.2-(15.2)-23.4, n=39 632-(902)-1050 x 5.9-(9.1)-12.3, n=38 118-(314)-484 x 4.7-(7.4)-16.7, n=36
QM

Queensland Museum

RV

Collection of Leptospira Strains

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