Mycale (Carmia) spec.

Mycale (Carmia) sp. 1; Kelly et al. 2003: Appendix

Material (not examined). QM 317358, Guam, identified by Michelle Kelly. Listed only, no description has been published .

Key to the species of Mycale (Carmia) of the region

Remark. The subgenus contains twentyone named and described species from the tropical Indo-West Pacific of which we had only nine species in the collection. Of the remaining twelve species we were able to study type material of an additional two species, leaving ten species unexamined. This affects the quality of the key below. We have doubts about the distinctness of Mycale (Carmia) suezza, M. (C.) madraspatana, M. (C.) militaris, M. (C.) relicta and M. (C.) mytilorum . These might not all turn out to be valid species after they will have been re-examined in the near future. For completeness sake we attempted to key them out nevertheless. We omitted Mycale (Carmia) spec. material from Guam as a description is not available.

1 Sponge habitus ramose........................................................... Mycale (Carmia) vermistyla

- Sponge not ramose, encrusting or massive.................................................................. 2

2 Sponge growing intertwined with living octoral Tubipora musica forcing the coral to form tubes with deep central cavities....................................................................... Mycale (Carmia) tubiporicola sp.nov.

- Not growing with Tubipora musica ....................................................................... 3

3 Microscleres include toxas and/or raphidotoxas............................................................. 4

- No toxas or raphidotoxas.............................................................................. 13

4 Microsclere complement quite diverse, including three size categories of anisochelae, two size categories of sigmas, toxas, raphidotoxas and trichodragmas............................................... Mycale (Carmia) tydemani sp.nov.

- Less diverse microsclere complement..................................................................... 5

5 Next to anisochelae and sigmas there are exclusively raphidotoxas; no proper toxas................................. 6

- Toxas present, with or without raphidotoxas................................................................ 8

6 Sigmas I robust, up to 105 x 5–7 µm ...................................................................... 7

- Sigmas I rare, thin, up to 52 x 1 µm ........................................... Mycale (Carmia) tenuichela sp.nov.

7 Spicule tracts thin, wispy, up to 30 µm diameter; sigma II absent........................ Mycale (Carmia) rhaphidotoxa

- Spicule tracts thick, up to 110 µm diameter; sigma II present.......................... Mycale (Carmia) raphidiophora

8 Both toxas and raphidotoxas present................................................ Mycale (Carmia) confundata

- Only proper symmetrical toxas, no raphidotoxas............................................................. 9

9 Only small toxas present (up to 40 µm)............................................. Mycale (Carmia) stegoderma

- Toxas> 40 µm, in a large size range, up to 200–350 µm ..................................................... 10

10 Anisochelae I 40–50 µm ............................................................................... 11

- Anisochelae I only 10–20 µm .................................................... Mycale (Carmia) aff. toxifera

11 Color dark grey (alcohol)............................................................. Mycale (Carmia) suezza

- Color brick red...................................................................................... 12

12 Anisochelae I in rosettes....................................................... Mycale (Carmia) madraspatana

- Anisochelae I not in rosettes......................................................... Mycale (Carmia) militaris

13 No sigmas present................................................... Mycale (Carmia) monomicrosclera sp.nov.

- Sigmas present...................................................................................... 14

14 Three size categories of anisochelae.............................................. Mycale (Carmia) amiri sp.nov.

- Only two or a single category of anisochelae............................................................... 15

15 Two categories of anisochelae.......................................................................... 16

- A single category of anisochelae........................................................................ 18

16 Raphides and/or trichodragmas present................................................................... 17

- No raphides or trichodragmas..................................................... Mycale (Carmia) phyllophila

17 Trichodragmas large, up to 80 µm, fusiform in shape; growing on the coral Fungia (unkown whether this is obligatory).......................................................................... Mycale (Carmia) fungiaphila sp.nov.

- Trichodragmas in small straight packages (18–30 µm)................................ Mycale (Carmia) cockburniana

18 Massive sponge, thickness at least 1 cm .................................................................. 19

- Sponge a thin crust of 1 mm or less...................................................................... 21

19 Basal mass with long erect fistules................................................... Mycale (Carmia) fistulifera

- No fistules or long outgrowths.......................................................................... 20

20 Massive, irregular, anisochelae distorted................................................. Mycale (Carmia) relicta

- Massively encrusting on other invertebrates, anisochelae normal shaped..................... Mycale (Carmia) lissochela

21 Sponge pale pink in life........................................................... Mycale (Carmia) maunakea

- Sponge brick red................................................................. Mycale (Carmia) mytilorum

Global diversity and distribution of the subgenus Mycale (Carmia)

We queried the World Porifera Database (Van Soest et al. 2020) and added the above results from our Indo-West Pacific Mycale (Carmia) study to arrive at the current tentative estimate of known accepted species, which numbers 61. Their distribution over the world oceans summarized as the numbers of species found in Marine Ecoregions of the World (cf. Spalding et al. 2007) is presented in Fig. 54. The subgenus is widespread in warmer and temperate waters, with only very few polar species, and with the highest species density in Indonesia, the Seychelles and the Mediterranean-Atlantic regions. This is likely an effect of collecting efforts. Taken together, the species of this subgenus are representative for the distribution pattern of the entire genus Mycale (cf. also below Fig. 130).