Euchelipluma Topsent, 1909

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 : 149

Genus Euchelipluma Topsent, 1909

Euchelipluma Topsent, 1909: 18 .

Desmatiderma Topsent, 1928b: 308 .

Diagnosis: Cladorhizidae pinnate or branching, with placochelae, smooth arcuate/ palmate isochelae and sigmancistras (from Hestetun et al. 2016b).

Type species: Euchelipluma pristina Topsent, 1909 (by original designation).

Remarks. Euchelipluma currently contains four species having placochelae similar to those of Guitarra , and therefore traditionally placed within the family Guitarridae . However, Hestetun et al. (2016a) recently proposed reallocating the genus to Cladorhizidae based on its general morphology, the presence of sigmancistras in addition to arcuate isochelae, and molecular data, indicating a close affinity to other carnivorous sponge genera, closest to but differentiated from Abyssocladia by also possessing placochelae. Current described species are E. arbuscular ( Topsent, 1928c) E. congeri de Laubenfels, 1936 , E. elongata Lehnert, Stone & Heimler, 2006 , and E. pristina Topsent, 1909 ( Table 17 ).