Agelas sventres Lehnert & van Soest, 1996

Ugalde, Diana, Fernandez, Julio C. C., Gómez, Patricia, Lôbo-Hajdu, Gisele & Simões, Nuno, 2021, An update on the diversity of marine sponges in the southern Gulf of Mexico coral reefs, Zootaxa 5031 (1), pp. 1-112 : 13-14

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.5031.1.1

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:CC3A59D1-E09E-407E-93F4-4796FD3D7C19

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5495426

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/110587B3-4D07-481C-FF53-FDD5489C3724

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Agelas sventres Lehnert & van Soest, 1996
status

 

Agelas sventres Lehnert & van Soest, 1996 View in CoL

Tables 6, 7; Figs. 6A–D View FIGURE 6 , 16E View FIGURE 16

Synonymy and references: Agelas sventres Lehnert & van Soest (1996:65) ; Agelas sventres: Muricy et al. (2011: 40) , Rützler et al. (2014: 78), Parra-Velandia et al. (2014: 334), and Pérez et al. (2017: 11); Agelas clathrodes , Agelas dispar ,? Agelas dispar ,? Agelas sparsus and Agelas schmidtii : see references compiled in Parra-Velandia et al. (2014: 334).

Type locality. Jamaica .

Material examined. CNPGG-2442, Cabezo reef (19.05086°, N, - 95.82388°W), 10.4 m depth, coll. Diana Ugalde, 30 August 2018.

Description. Massive habit to lobed ( Fig. 16E View FIGURE 16 ); size 3.4 × 2.3 cm. Surface smooth, irregular, but pierced by oval to round apertures, with aggregated pore areas. Oscules on the top of lobes. Orange color in vivo, beige after preserved in ethanol. Consistency is highly compressible.

Skeleton. A reticulation of spongin fibers conforming irregularly rounded meshes up to 435 µm wide ( Fig. 6A View FIGURE 6 ). Ascending fibers 100–150 µm thick, cored by several spicules. Interconnecting fibers uncored 30–60 µm thick. Fibers echinated by several spicules ( Fig. 6B–C View FIGURE 6 ).

Spicules. Megascleres: verticillate acanthostyles ( Fig. 6D View FIGURE 6 ), with a smooth tip, stout, slightly curved, in a large size range, 80– 135.4 (32)–200/5– 10.9 (2.9)–14 µm.

Distribution. Mexico ( Green et al. 1986: as Agelas dispar ; current records), other countries in the Caribbean Sea, Brazil ( Parra-Velandia et al. 2014).

Remarks. Agelas sventres was reported initially in Jamaica (51.8 m depth), with an elongate habit (fingershaped), orange color, a trabeculate skeleton with ascending fibres cored by acanthostyles (i.e., verticillate acanthostyles), 75–160/7–l6 µm ( Lehnert & van Soest 1996). Parra-Velandia et al. (2014) have widely studied A. sventres from different localities in the Caribbean region ( Bahamas, Barbados, Curaçao, Venezuela, Jamaica, and San Andrés Island), at 5 to 35 m depth, and they have described massive-lobate specimens, which vary from an elongated ball form (finger shape) to irregular multilobate ball forms. Besides, Parra-Velandia et al. (2014) have reported orange color (externally), trabecular skeleton (reticulate), and verticillate acanthostyles: 75–286/4–13 µm. Specimens in South America have only been recorded in northeastern Brazil, in Potiguar Basin, from ca. 50 m depth, with an erect habit (columnar and irregular to digitiform shape), bright orange to reddish-orange color, and verticillate acanthostyles: 86–189 µm ( Muricy et al. 2008, 2011).

The morphological character in our specimens matches closely with the descriptions of Lehnert & van Soest (1996) and Parra-Velandia et al. (2014), with a massive-lobate shape, orange color, reticulate skeleton with fibers cored by verticillate acanthostyles 80–200/5–14 µm. Our description fits well in the known A. sventres variability, thus confirming our identification and the species’ distribution in the region.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Porifera

Class

Demospongiae

Order

Agelasida

Family

Agelasidae

Genus

Agelas

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