Spongia (Spongia) obscura Hyatt, 1877

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 : 85-86

Spongia (Spongia) obscura Hyatt, 1877

Tables 6, 7; Figs. 78A–B , 79I

Synonymy and references: Spongia equina cerebriformis var. obscura Hyatt (1877: 521) ; Spongia equina cerebriformis var. plana Hyatt (1877: 520–521) ; Spongia (Spongia) plana Hyatt (1877: 520) ; Spongia plana Hyatt (1877: 521) ; Spongia obscura Wiedenmayer (1977: 56) , Gómez (2002: 92), and Rützler et al. (2009: 306).

Type locality. Bahamas .

Material examined. CNPGG-2177, Cayo Arcas reef (20.1996°N, 96.9668°W), 7.6 m depth, coll. Diana Ugal- de, 24 April 2018 .

Distribution. Mexico ( Gómez 2002; current records), Bahamas ( Wiedenmayer 1977), US (Florida), other countries in the Caribean Sea ( Zea 1987).

Remarks. Spongia (Spongia) obscura is distinguished by its massive shape with small oscular tubes on top, blackish color in vivo, highly compressible, and conulose surface, an irregular skeleton of primary and secondary fibers, the former cored by foreign debris ( Zea 1987); the secondaries always free. The species is uncommon in the GoM. Even though, it has already been reported from southern and northern localities. Hyatt (1877, as var. mexicana — Veracruz) and Gómez (2002, Campeche and Yucatán) made the records to the southern part of the gulf, while de Laubenfels & Storr (1958, Florida) made to the northern part.

In the past, there has been much confusion about the taxonomy of west Indian Spongia spp. Species have been synonymised or splitt apart, while others had emended definitions (see van Soest 1978, van Soest et al 2021). Many of them have been declared “ taxon inquirendum ” because their type materials are unrecognizable, thus hampering proposals of neotypes.

Subclass Verongimorpha Erpenbeck, Sutcliffe, De Cook, Dietzel, Maldonado, van Soest, Hooper & Wörheide, 2012

Order Verongiida Bergquist, 1978

Figures

FIGURE 78. Spongia (Spongia) obscura (Pallas, 1766) (CNPGG-2177), skeleton and fibers: A. transversal section of the skeleton; B. detail of the choanosomal region. Scale bars: A = 500 µm; B = 200 µm.

FIGURE 79. In situ photographs of species analyzed in the present study: A. Erylus formosus Sollas, 1886 (CNPGG-2202); B. Cinanchyrella apion (Uliczka, 1929) (CNPGG-2189); C. Cinanchyrella kuekenthali (Uliczka, 1929) (CNPGG-2190); D. Igernella notabilis (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864) (CNPGG-2234); E. Dysidea etheria de Laubenfels, 1936 (CNPGG-2199); F. Ircinia strobilina (Lamarck, 1816) (not collected) G. Ircinia strobilina (Lamarck, 1816) (CNPGG-2263); H. Hyattella cavernosa (Pallas, 1766) (CNPGG-2260); I. Spongia (S.) obscura Hyatt, 1877 (CNPGG-2177). Scale bars, A–H = 1 cm.