Polymastia tenax Pulitzer-Finali, 1986

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 : 58-59

publication ID

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

publication LSID

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

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/110587B3-4D32-482B-FF53-FA804A593726

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Polymastia tenax Pulitzer-Finali, 1986
status

 

Polymastia tenax Pulitzer-Finali, 1986 View in CoL

Tables 6, 7; Figs. 53A–H View FIGURE 53 , 58H View FIGURE 58

Synonymy and references: Polymastia tenax Pulitzer-Finali (1986: 89) , Boury-Esnault (1987: 55), Vacelet (1990: 22), Lehnert (1993: 63), Lehnert (1998: 80), Pérez et al. (2017: 12), and van Soest (2017: 122).

Type locality. Dominican Republic .

Material examined. CNPGG-2253, Triangulo Oeste reef (20.96412°N, 92.30193°W), 9 m depth, coll. Oscar Bocardo, 09 September 2017 GoogleMaps ; CNPGG-2257, Triangulo Oeste reef (20.95864°N, 92.30453°W), 17.4 m depth, coll. Oscar Bocardo, 10 September 2017 GoogleMaps ; CNPGG-2258, Triangulo Oeste reef (20.95864°N, 92.30453°W), 8.3 m depth, coll. Oscar Bocardo, 10 September 2017 GoogleMaps ; CNPGG-2286, Triangulo Este reef (20.89108°N, 92.23992°W), 20 m depth, coll. Oscar Bocardo, 12 September 2017 GoogleMaps ; CNPGG-2292, Banco Obispo Norte reef (20.4946°N, 92.20378°W), 14.8 m depth, coll. Oscar Bocardo, 13 September 2017 GoogleMaps .

Description. Massive habit with lobate conical papillae ( Fig. 58H View FIGURE 58 ); the larger specimen with 4 × 3 × 2.5 cm at the base, and papillae with 0.8 cm in diameter, 0.1 to 0.5 cm high. The surface is smooth, slightly wavy, and without visible pores. Oscules at the top of each papillae, up to 0.6 cm in diameter. Both brown and whitish colors show up in vivo, light brown when preserved in ethanol. The consistency is hard, almost incompressible.

Skeleton. Ectosomal region formed by a dense palisade of smaller tylostyles perpendicular to the surface ( Fig. 53A View FIGURE 53 ). The choanosomal region is a confused mass of spicules ( Fig. 53B View FIGURE 53 ), sometimes with style tracts, 30–100 µm thick. Larger tylostyles scattered in criss-cross position deep in the choanosome ( Fig. 53C View FIGURE 53 ).

Spicules. Megascleres: Subtylostyles I, Large straight to slightly curved or sinuous, fusiform, and smooth, with a blunt or tyle-shaped base ( Fig. 53E–F View FIGURE 53 ); 500–738 (97.2)–870/7.5–13.3 (2.5)–16.8 µm and base/tyle 7–8.9 (1.8)–14.5 µm. Subtylostyles II, stout, straight, fusiform, and smooth ( Fig. 53G View FIGURE 53 ); 330–437.3 (45.6)–490/7.2–19.8 (5.4)–25 µm and tyle 5–8.5 (2.1)–12 µm. Subtylostyles III, smaller and thinner than the two previous categories ( Fig. 53H View FIGURE 53 ); 160–206.7 (34.8)–290/2.4–4.9 (1.2)–7.2 µm and tyle 2.4–4.4 (1.1)–6.5 µm.

Distribution. Mexico (current records), Greater Antilles ( Pulitzer-Finali 1986; Boury-Esnault 1987).

Remarks. Polymastia tenax had not been recorded from the GoM before. Therefore, our specimens are the first record in the area. The type material of P. tenax is described as cushion-shaped with open papillae, with the same skeletal structure described herein. The spicule measurements are quite similar to the present material: styles 630–770/11–14 µm, large subtylostyles 320–420/18–30 µm, and small subtylostyles 130–330/2.5–9 µm (Pulitzer- Finali 1986).

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