Porifera from Ponta do Ouro (Mozambique)
Author
Calcinai, Barbara
C16E9433-A532-470E-B9A6-7FE9B9F4FEC3
Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell’Ambiente, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
b.calcinai@staff.univpm.it
Author
Belfiore, Giuseppe
D26DFB86-3168-4B13-915A-D19B025143F4
Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell’Ambiente, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
gbelf89@hotmail.it
Author
Pica, Daniela
67CA8471-D9AE-414B-802E-7858C6B49C62
Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell’Ambiente, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
daniela.pica@gmail.com
Author
Torsani, Fabrizio
79D7D36F-1A9B-4D43-B2A1-B671719F2D93
Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell’Ambiente, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
f.torsani@univpm.it
Author
Palma, Marco
96B40C66-6E70-45D6-A065-0BCEF4565A64
Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell’Ambiente, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
2marco.palma@gmail.com
Author
Cerrano, Carlo
C1E63119-46EC-456A-BB00-824293B00828
Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell’Ambiente, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
c.cerrano@staff.univpm.it
text
European Journal of Taxonomy
2020
2020-08-06
698
1
56
journal article
10.5852/ejt.2020.698
be802d18-f06f-4e22-9856-8b037f21ca52
2118-9773
3978511
623BBCE3-12A5-45A9-802A-2ED2E15164A3
Amphimedon brevispiculifera
(
Dendy, 1905
)
Fig. 9
Pachychalina brevispiculifera
Dendy, 1905: 149
, pl 10 fig. 7.
Material examined
PONTA DO OURO
•
2 branches
, about
4 cm
long, alcohol preserved;
26°49′55.65″ S
,
32°53′13.417″ E
; Three Sisters;
23.9 m
deep;
21 Feb. 2017
;
Cerrano
leg.;
PO65
.
Description
The live sponge is arborescent, with flattened branches often anastomosing (
Fig. 9A
); oscules are numerous and concentrated on the upper margin of the branches (
Fig. 9A
). Light purple
in vivo
, the specimen conserved in alcohol is pale yellow; the surface is smooth, the consistence is firm and elastic. The preserved sample consists of two small fragments; the biggest being a small branch about
4 cm
long and
1.5 cm
thick.
Fig. 9.
Amphimedon brevispiculifera
(
Dendy, 1905
)
.
A
. Specimen PO65
in situ
.
B
. Ectosomal skeleton.
C
. Choanosomal skeleton.
D
. Oxea.
SKELETON. Ectosome (
Fig. 9B
) formed by multispicular fibers, rich in spongin, with the diameter ranging between 20 and 75 μm, creating irregular, rounded meshes of 100–200 μm. Echinating spicules, at the end of the choanosomal primary fibers, protrude at the nodes. Choanosome (
Fig. 9C
) consists of multispicular primary fibers as well as multispicular secondary fibers, of about the same thickness (20–90 μm in diameter), forming rectangular meshes (average of 100 ×175 μm).
SPICULES. Short, stout and sharp oxeas, 80–(88.5, 4.4)–95×2.5–(2.75, 1.3)–3 μm (
Fig. 9D
).
Remarks
Out of 57 species of the genus
Amphimedon
, 30 are recorded in the Indo-Pacific Ocean (
Van Soest
et al
. 2019
). The examined specimen fits with
A. brevispiculifera
described from the Gulf of Manaar. They share the same general morphology, disposition of the oscules and the short dimension of the spicules (100 × 5.5 μm); the species name “
brevispiculifera
” means ‘with short spicules’. All the other species of
Amphimedon
in the Indo-Pacific Ocean are characterized by longer oxeas.
The present specimen is apparently morphologically similar to the sponge recently recorded by
Samaai
et al.
(2019)
in
South Africa
and named
Callyspongia
(
Cladochalina
)
diffusa
sensu
Samaai
et al.
(2019)
.
This species was previously known only from South
India
and
Sri Lanka
(
Laccadive
Sea); thus, it is the first record since its original description and a new record for the studied area.