Tedania sp., Gray, 1867

Calcinai, Barbara, Belfiore, Giuseppe, Pica, Daniela, Torsani, Fabrizio, Palma, Marco & Cerrano, Carlo, 2020, Porifera from Ponta do Ouro (Mozambique), European Journal of Taxonomy 698, pp. 1-56 : 41-43

Tedania sp.

Fig. 23

Material examined

PONTA DO OURO • 1 fragment; 26°49′29.579″ S, 32°53′50.891″ E; Blacks ; 17 m deep; 11 Nov. 2015; Torsani leg.; PdO5 .

Description

No available photos of the live sponge. The dried sample is a thin dirty-white lamina (20 ×30 × 5 mm), smooth and fragile.

SKELETON. In the fragment, it was impossible to distinguish ectosome from choanosome. The skeleton looks quite confused, with scattered spicules that sometimes become organized in loose tracts of tylotes.

SPICULES. Smooth styles ( Fig. 23A ), bent in the first third of the axis and with blunt tips, 255–(281.5, 7.5)– 285 µm × 3.75–(4.5, 0.4)– 5 µm; slightly curved tylotes ( Fig. 23B ), with slightly accentuated and

smooth tips, 245–(267.5, 25.1)– 335 µm × 2.5–(3, 0.8)– 5 µm; onychaetes ( Fig. 23C ) with acerate tips and usually with a swelling close to one tip, 77.5–(125)– 142.5 µm.

Remarks

The specimen belongs to the genus Tedania Gray, 1867 based on the presence of two kinds of megascleres, one monoactinial and one diactinial, and onychaetes; the assignment to the subgenus is tricky: species belonging to the subgenus Tedania Gray, 1867 have, generally, spined tylotes, but, e.g., Tedania (Tedania) toxicalis De Laubenfels, 1930 has smooth tylotes (see also Desqueyroux & Van Soest 1996: 54); Tedaniopsis Dendy, 1924 has longer choanosomal megascleres (> 350 µm) and Trachytedania Ridley, 1881 has mucronate or oxeote tornotes as ectosomal megascleres. As a consequence and also considering the reduced size of the specimen, preventing any additional investigation, we prefer not to attribute any subgenus or species to this sponge and describe it as Tedania sp.

Figures

Fig. 23. Tedania sp., PdO5. A. Smooth style and magnification of the tip. B. Slightly curved tylote and magnification of the smooth tips. C. Onychaete and magnification of the tips.