Euplectella aspergillum Owen, 1841

Tabachnick, Konstantin R. & Menschenina, Dorte Janussen And Larisa L., 2008, New Australian Hexactinellida (Porifera) with a revision of Euplectella aspergillum *, Zootaxa 1866 (1), pp. 7-68 : 48-50

Euplectella aspergillum Owen, 1841 ( Fig. 24 ; Tab. 19)

Synonymy. E. aspergillum Owen, 1841: 3 (together with many other publications). E. aspergillum aspergillum Owen, 1841 . Not E. aspergillum ( Schulze, 1904: 17 and recitation in Burton, 1959: 154) – these W Indian specimens of Euplectella are likely to be E. aspera Schulze, 1895 . E. regalis Schulze, 1900: 24 ; Schulze, 1902: 61 (not E. regalis ( Reiswig, 1992: 31) . Not E. aspergillum specimen IORAS 5/2/ 1324 in Tabachnick, 2002b: 1391.

Material. Off the Philippines: Holotype: BMNH 1988 .06.29.002 . Other specimens examined: BMNH 1887.10.20.007­9; 1887.10.20.010­12 (3 specimens) — RV Challenger, sta. 209, off Cebu, 183 m. BMNH 1921.11.30.004—coll. by J. Murray (likely off the Philippines) . ZMA por 2694. MNHN (p4275)— Musorstom 1, sta. 4, 14 o 1.80’–1.20’ N 120 o 17.20’ –19’E, depth 182– 194 m. MNHN (p1108; p1109; p1110; p1111; p1112)— Musorstom 2, sta. 41, 166, 13 o 15.30’–16.90’ N 122 o 45.90’ –46.60’E, depth 166– 172 m. MNHN (p1655)— Musorstom 2, sta. 1?, CP, 14 o 0.30’–0.40’ N 120 o 19.30’ –17.60’E, depth 188– 198 m. MNHN (p4266; p4267; p4268; p4269)— Musorstom 2, sta, 41, CP, 13 o 15.30’–16.90’ N 122 o 45.90’ –46.60’E, depth 166– 172 m. MNHN (p4274; p4278)— Musorstom 2, sta. 64, 14 o 1.50’–0.10’ N 120 o 18.90’ –18.20’E, depth 191– 195 m. MNHN (p1156)— Musorstom 3, sta. 111, 14 o 0.10’–0.50’ N 120 o 17.50’ –19.40’E, depth 193– 205 m. MNHN (p1157)— Musorstom 3, sta. 101, 14 o 0.15’–0.55’ N 120 o 19.25’ –18.20’E, depth 194– 196 m. MNHN (p1173; p1174; p1175; p1176; p1177)— Musorstom 3, sta. 92, 14 o 3’–3.30’ N 120 o 11.50’ –12.30’E, depth 224 m. HM 3611 ; 3990; 5432; 5623 (5 specimens) — RV Challenger, sta. 209, off Cebu, 183 m. HM?— RV Challenger?, sta. 22?, off Cebu . HM 5430 — RV Challenger . HM?—location unknown. USNM 21332 (13 specimens) identified as E. imperialis by Wilson — RV Albatross, sta. 5117, 21.01.190 8, 13 o 52.22’ N 120 o 46.22’ E, depth 216 m.

Off Japan: HM 5429, identified as Euplectella aspergillum (det. by unknown specialist), re­identified here as E. oweni .

W of the Indian Ocean: The following specimens identified and described as E. aspergillum by Schulze (1904) are not representatives of E. aspergillum , they are probably E. aspera Schulze, 1900 : HM 3612—RV Valdivia , sta. 243, 6 o 39’1” S 39 o 30’8” E, depth 400 m. HM 4337 (2 specimens); 5431; 5778 (2 specimens)— RV Valdivia , sta. 245, 5 o 27’9” S 39 o 18’8” E, depth 463 m.

Description. As given in Tabachnick (2002b).

Remarks. E. aspergillum is one of the most famous hexactinellid species, at the same time it is very hard to identify properly due to its poor initial description and the relatively poor condition of the holotype stored in the BMNH (it has very few loose spicules). The first attempt to obtain a better description was made by Claus (1868), later by Schulze (1887), who both worked on the materials collected close to the type location; the latest approach was by Tabachnick (2002b). Description of several closely related species (having principalia of stauractins and notable fusion of the choanosomal skeleton) was done by Ijima ( Euplectella imperialis Ijima, 1901 , E. timorensis Ijima, 1927 ), and Schulze (1900) raised many questions concerning the problem of the similarity and possibly close relationship between E. regalis Schulze, 1900 and E. aspergillum . Here we formally join the two species. Dimensions of the most important spicules of E. aspergillum aspergillum and E. aspergillum regalis are given in Tables 19 and 20 repsectively. Further important measurements of the proportion of oscularia variable from hexactins to monactins, usually thick­rayed (0.02–0.10 mm in diameter), are given in Tab. 21. An interesting discovery was made in one specimen (p1157) of an anchorate spicule with spicule centre situated at some distance from the anchor, as in E. paratetractina . (described above) and in several species of Holascus earlier referred to the genus Holascella ( Lendenfeld, 1915) .

Figures

FIGURE 24. E. aspergillum aspergillum Owen, 1841, oscularia, HM 5430.