Calyx cf. podatypa ( De Laubenfels, 1934 )

Van, Rob W. M., 2017, Sponges of the Guyana Shelf, Zootaxa 1, pp. 1-225 : 41-43

Calyx cf. podatypa ( De Laubenfels, 1934)

Figures 26 a–d

Haliclona podatypa De Laubenfels, 1934: 23 ; Wiedenmayer 1977: 90, pl. 14 fig. 6, text-fig. 15.? Pachypellina podatypa ; Van Soest 1980: 91, pl. XIV fig. 3, text-fig. 34; Zea 1987: 132, pl. 9 fig. 8, text-fig. 41.? Calyx podatypa ; Van Soest & Stentoft 1988: 133, text-fig. 65.

Material examined. RMNH Por. 9880, 9969, Suriname, ‘ Snellius O.C.P.S. ’ Guyana Shelf Expedition, station G56, 7.26°N 56.6667°W, depth 67–68 m, Agassiz trawl, 10 May 1966 .

Examined for comparison. Slide of USNM 22305, holotype Haliclona podatypa De Laubenfels, 1934 , Puerto Rican Deep, 60–72 m depth.

Description. Repent hollow branches ( Fig. 26 a), 1–1.2 cm in diameter, and lobes up to 2 cm in diameter, now fragmented. The hollow part exceeds the sponge wall in diameter, the sponge walls being 1–3 mm in thickness. Surface smooth, provided with scattered round or irregular outlined oscules. Color pale yellow-orange in alcohol, probably wine-red in life (based on a specimen collected in Belize, cf. Rützler et al. 2000). Consistency firm.

Skeleton. ( Figs 26 b–c) The deeper choanosome ( Figs 26 b,b1) is crumbly, caused by increasing absence of a reticulation of the single spicules. No visible spongin. At the surface ( Fig. 26 b1,c) there is a thick layer of intercrossing spicules, which becomes less dense in the interior.

Spicules. Oxeas only.

Oxeas ( Fig. 26 d), curved, in a large size range, 162– 179 –195 x 7 – 8.8 –10 µm.

Distribution and ecology. Guyana Shelf, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, Belize, possibly Barbados, from shallowwater down to 100 m depth ( Guyana Shelf 67–68 m).

Remarks. This remains an ill-known species, due to the fact that all specimens reported subsequently after De Laubenfels’ (1934) original description, with the exception of Wiedenmayer’s (1977) Bahamas specimen, appear to differ from the type. I reexamined the slide made from the USNM holotype (22305), and remeasured the spicules (n=25): they are rather uniform in size and shape, curved thin oxeas, 117– 133 –144 x 2.5– 3.8 –5 µm, while De Laubenfels gives 90–119 x 2–4 µm. Excepting Wiedenmayer’s, all other described specimens have longer and thicker spicules. De Laubenfels makes no mention of a hollow interior in the two specimens upon which the description of the species was based, nor is that evident in the slide mentioned above. Again excepting Wiedenmayer’s specimen, the other reported specimens are characteristically ‘hollow’. A further discrepancy is the presence in the types and in Wiedenmayer’s specimen of a system of choanosomal spicule tracts running randomly in the spicule mass, which was not clearly found in the Puerto Rican, Colombian Caribbean, Barbados, and present specimens. These discrepancies point towards the existence of an additional different species, and thus the present identification is tentative.

Figures

FIGURE 26. Calyx cf. podatypa (De Laubenfels, 1934), a, habitus of RMNH Por. 9880 (scale bar = 1 cm), b – c, light microscopic of images of the skeleton of a fragment of RMNH Por. 9880, b, cross section, b 1, detail of the peripheral region, c, surface skeleton, d, SEM image of oxea.