Ircinia sergipana, Sandes, Joana & Pinheiro, Ulisses, 2014

Sandes, Joana & Pinheiro, Ulisses, 2014, Dictyoceratida (Porifera: Demospongiae) from Tropical Southwestern Atlantic (Northeastern Brazil, Sergipe State) and the description of three new species, Zootaxa 3838 (4), pp. 445-461 : 446-448

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.3838.4.4

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:1B077693-C08F-49D6-965A-260D08C566DB

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6123430

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/057387CD-FFA7-FF80-8FEB-F92CFE18596F

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Ircinia sergipana
status

sp. nov.

Ircinia sergipana View in CoL sp. nov.

(Fig. 1–1; Fig. 2 View FIGURE 2 ; Tab. 1)

Type specimen. Holotype—MNRJ17618, off Pirambu (10º45’36’’S 36º36’08’’W), Sergipe State, Brazil, 20 m depth, coll. Cosme Assis and Damião Assis, December 2002 (Fig. 1–1).

Diagnosis. Ircinia with massive lobed form, conulose surface with projections up to 10 mm high and region between conules perforated by oscules.

External morphology ( Fig. 2 View FIGURE 2 A–B). Massive lobed in shape, single specimen, 8 x 7.5 cm (width x height) ( Fig. 2 View FIGURE 2 A). Conulose surface with projections up to 10 mm high and region between conules perforated by oscules smaller than 1 mm in diameter. The conules are 1–5 mm high, 3–5 mm apart ( Fig. 2 View FIGURE 2 B). Consistency firm, elastic, easy to cut, and little compressible. Light beige color in ethanol.

Skeleton ( Fig. 2 View FIGURE 2 C–D). The skeleton consists of a loose network of fasciculated spongin fibers with primary and secondary elements cored with foreign debris. Fibers are 35–82.8–130 µm wide and oval meshes up to 160 µm in diameter ( Fig. 2 View FIGURE 2 C). Collagenous filaments are 2.5–5 µm wide and occur in high density. Its expanded end is a circle of 5–7.5 µm in diameter ( Fig. 2 View FIGURE 2 D). Foreign spicules were also observed coring the fibers.

Ecology. The specimen was found at 20 m depth.

Geographical distribution. Tropical Southwestern Atlantic, Northeastern of Brazil, Sergipe State.

Etymology. The species name refers to the study area, Sergipe State.

Remarks. The family Irciniidae is characterized by spongin fiber skeletons supplemented with thin collagenous filaments. Ircinia is different from other genera of Irciniidae due to the presence of fascicular primary fibers, cored with foreign debris, and the absence of sand-armoured crust ( Cook & Bergquist 2002b). Even though the genus is easily recognized, the presence of a dermal dusting of foreign debris makes it difficult to differentiate Ircinia and Psammocinia Lendenfeld, 1889 . However, characteristics of fascicular primary fibers are useful in separating these groups, since Ircinia species have massive fascicular fibers, whereas Psammocinia species sometimes show moderate fasciculation with simple primary fibers ( Cook 2007). More difficult is the ability to consistently and clearly differentiate species of Ircinia due to uniformity of their internal morphology, habitat variability and surface characteristics. This difficulty makes ecological and morphological studies urgently needed in this genus ( Bergquist 1965).

Ircinia View in CoL presently consists of 74 species, 13 of which occur in the Tropical Western Atlantic (Van Soest et al. 2014). Five of the species occur on the Brazilian coast: Ircinia campana (Lamarck, 1814) View in CoL ; Ircinia felix ( Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864) View in CoL ; Ircinia pauciarenaria Boury-Esnault, 1973 View in CoL ; Ircinia ramosa ( Keller, 1889) View in CoL and Ircinia strobilina ( Lamarck, 1816) ( Muricy et al. 2011) View in CoL .

Ircinia pauciarenaria View in CoL was described by Boury-Esnault (1973) based on the presence of collagenous filaments of small thickness and small amount of foreign debris. However, when Muricy et al. (2011) proposed syntypes based on material from the Muséum National d' Histoire Naturalle (MNHN), they realized that the only two specimens identified as I. pauciarenaria View in CoL were in fact not co-specific. Moreover, Moraes (2011) remarked that the species was a junior synonym of I. strobilina View in CoL . We analyzed fragments of specimens and realized that the syntype MNHN 1012 actually corresponds to I. strobilina View in CoL (see Muricy et al. 2011, p. 76, fig.7H). Thus, we designated MNHN 1022 as lectotype of I. pauciarenaria View in CoL (see Muricy et al. 2011, p. 77, fig.8A).

The new species described here belongs in Ircinia View in CoL because of the presence of collagenous filaments, the absence of dermal armour and fasciculate fibers cored with foreign debris. Traditionally, only the fasciculate primary fibers of Ircinia View in CoL are cored by foreign debris. However, like Ircinia sergipana View in CoL sp. nov., Ircinia felix sensu van Soest (1978) has both primary and secondary fibers cored. Also, it differs from Ircinia sergipana View in CoL sp. nov. due to the presence of small conules (up to 4 mm high) and the absence of projections and oscules with dark edges.

Ircinia sergipana View in CoL sp. nov. is set apart from its congeners in the Tropical Western Atlantic by reason of the combination of massive lobed growth form, the presence of projections up to 10 mm high and the region between conules is perforated by oscules. The only species that has conules up to 10 mm high is Ircinia strobilina View in CoL . However, compared to the new species, it presents more widely spaced conules (5–15 mm) and no projections. Both species have visible oscules on the surface, but the oscules of I. strobilina View in CoL are larger (4–10 mm in diameter) and always occur in groups, while the oscules of I. sergipana View in CoL sp. nov. are less than 1 mm in diameter and distributed in the region between conules ( Fig. 2 View FIGURE 2 B; Tab. 1). Ircinia sergipana View in CoL sp. nov. shares the massive lobed form with I. pauciarenaria View in CoL . However, it differs from the new species in the dark brown color, the absence of projections up to 10 mm high and the absence of a region between conules perforated by oscules. Moreover, I. campana View in CoL also has large conules (up to 8 mm high) as for I. sergipana View in CoL sp. nov., but differs from the new species due to its cup-shaped growth form (Tab. 1).

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Porifera

Class

Demospongiae

Order

Dictyoceratida

Family

Irciniidae

Genus

Ircinia

Loc

Ircinia sergipana

Sandes, Joana & Pinheiro, Ulisses 2014
2014
Loc

Ircinia strobilina ( Lamarck, 1816 ) ( Muricy et al. 2011 )

(Lamarck, 1816) (Muricy et al. 2011
2011
Loc

Ircinia pauciarenaria

Boury-Esnault 1973
1973
Loc

Ircinia ramosa (

Keller 1889
1889
Loc

Ircinia felix (

Duchassaing & Michelotti 1864
1864
Loc

Ircinia campana

Lamarck 1814
1814
GBIF Dataset (for parent article) Darwin Core Archive (for parent article) View in SIBiLS Plain XML RDF