Theonella atlantica Van Soest & Stentoft, 1988
Van, Rob W. M., 2017, Sponges of the Guyana Shelf, Zootaxa 1, pp. 1-225 : 104
publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.272951 |
publication LSID |
lsid:zoobank.org:pub:6D68A019-6F63-4AA4-A8B3-92D351F1F69B |
DOI |
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5698654 |
persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03A80010-7730-FFCB-FF14-A0E192BBF855 |
treatment provided by |
Plazi |
scientific name |
Theonella atlantica Van Soest & Stentoft, 1988 |
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Theonella atlantica Van Soest & Stentoft, 1988 View in CoL
Figures 64 View FIGURE 64 a–f
Theonella atlantica Van Soest & Stentoft, 1988: 48 View in CoL , pl. VI figs 5–6, text-fig. 21; Van Soest et al. 2014: table 2 (p. 436), fig. 21b; Pisera & Pomponi 2015: 1302, figs 2A–E, 4–5.
Material examined. RMNH Por. 9825, Suriname, ‘Luymes’ Guyana Shelf Expedition, station 1, 7.1667°N 53.5833°W, depth 104–130 m, bottom sandy calcarenite, 24 August 1970 GoogleMaps .
Description. ( Fig. 64 View FIGURE 64 a) Three short stubby, stalked sponges with smooth surface. Largest individual/fragment, 3.5 cm high, 2 cm in diameter. Color beige in alcohol. Consistency stony, rough to the touch.
Skeleton. At the surface there is a regular cover of smooth phyllotriaenes. Microscleres densely strewn over the cladi of the phyllotriaenes. Choanosomal skeleton a dense and strongly zygosed desma skeleton ( Fig. 64 View FIGURE 64 b) and occasional bundles of thin oxeotes arranged at right angles to the surface.
Spicules. ( Figs 64 View FIGURE 64 b–f) Tetraclone desmas, oxeas, phyllotriaenes, and microrhabds.
Desmas ( Fig. 64 View FIGURE 64 b), smooth inner branches but peripherally the cladi have strongly tuberculated zygomes. Spicules overall approximately 400 µm in size, individual cladi 50–100 µm in diameter.
Oxeas ( Figs 64 View FIGURE 64 c,c1), thin, wispy endings, relatively few in number, 350– 1050 x 3 –7.7 µm.
Phyllotriaenes ( Figs 64 View FIGURE 64 d,d1,e), with smooth, irregular cladi ( Figs 64 View FIGURE 64 d1), subdivided into primary, secondary and often also tertiary cladi, overall cladome sizes 660–875 µm, rhabdomes conical ( Figs 64 View FIGURE 64 d), 65–180 x 30–40 µm. Juvenile spicules ( Fig. 64 View FIGURE 64 e) are triaenes with rough surface and three conical cladi.
Acanthomicrorhabds ( Figs 64 View FIGURE 64 f), fusiform, with bluntly pointed apices, densely covered with compound spines, 9–16 x 2.5–3.5 µm.
Distribution and ecology. Guyana Shelf, Barbados, Bonaire, Florida, hard sandy bottoms, 63–161 m ( Guyana Shelf 104–130 m).
Remarks. The Suriname specimens are closely similar to those of Barbados and Bonaire. Pisera & Pomponi (2015) (p. 1303) gave an extensive description of Florida specimens of the species and their data also match closely. These authors also discovered a second Theonella species among the Florida material, T. wrightae Pisera & Pomponi, 2015 , differing from T. atlantica by having oscules on slight elevations at the side of long branches, and a remarkable suite of ectosomal spicules from phyllotriaenes merging into discotriaenes, which also may have tubercles on the upper side. The acanthomicrorhabds of T. wrightae show a much larger variation in length and include cylindrical acanthorhabds of up to 38 µm.
RMNH |
National Museum of Natural History, Naturalis |
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Astrophorina |
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Theonella atlantica Van Soest & Stentoft, 1988
Van, Rob W. M. 2017 |
Theonella atlantica
Pisera 2015: 1302 |
Van 1988: 48 |