Haliclona (Gellius) rudis ( Topsent, 1901 )

Schejter, Laura, Cristobo, Javier & Ríos, Pilar, 2024, New records of demosponges (Porifera) from the South Orkney Islands (Antarctica) with a checklist for the region, Zootaxa 5403 (4), pp. 401-430 : 421-422

Haliclona (Gellius) rudis ( Topsent, 1901)

( Figure 11g –i )

Restricted synonymy: Gellius rudis Topsent, 1901 , Haliclona rudis ( Topsent, 1901) .

Material examined: 1 specimen collected at station 5 ( SOI; 61°25'S, 42°55'W; 589 m; 3/3/2014; MACN-In 44365; IEO-CSIC Col.) .

Description: Massive fragmented specimen, beige in colour, very porous ( Figure 11g ). Anisotropic skeleton with multispicular tracts. Spicules are oxeas of 450–620 µm by 12.5–20 µm and thin sigmas of 25–50 µm ( Figure 11 h, i ).

Remarks: This is a frequently recorded species in Antarctica, previously found by Topsent (1917), Burton (1929), Koltun (1964), Campos et al. (2007), Göcke & Janussen (2013), among others. This is the first record for the SOI.

Figures

FIGURE 11. a–f. Haliclona spongiosissima. a. general morphology, scale: 3 cm; b. oxea, scale: 55 µm, c. detail of the oscula and the screened surface in a fresh specimen, scale: 1mm, d. detail of the screened surface in a dried specimen, scale: 1mm, e–f. choanosomal skeleton, detail of the spicule’s arrangements, scale: 200 µm; g–i. H. (Gellius) rudis, g. general morphology, scale: 2 cm, h. sigma, scale: 35 µm, i. oxea, scale: 160 µm; j–p. H. (G.) cf. cucurbitiformis, j. general morphology, scale: 3 cm, k. oxea, scale: 100 µm, l. sigmas, scale: 30 µm, m. macroscopic view of the choanosomal skeleton, scale: 1 mm, n. macroscopic view of the surface and the ectosome, scale: 1 mm, o. microscopic view of the spicule arrangement in the choanosomal skeleton, scale: 200 µm, p. detail of the choanosomal skeleton, scale: 200 µm.