Euplectella aspergillum regalis Schulze, 1900

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 : 51

Euplectella aspergillum regalis Schulze, 1900 ( Fig. 25 ; Tab. 20)

Synonymy. E. regalis Schulze, 1900: 24 ; Schulze, 1902: 61; not E. regalis Reiswig, 1992: 31 .

Material. Holotype: fragments of E. regalis Schulze, 1900 BMNH 1908.09.24.012; 1907.08.01.010; HM 3616; HM 5453— RV Investigator , off Andamans Islands, 13 o 27’N 93 o 14’30”E, depth 741 m.

Description. In agreement with the original description given for E. regalis by Schulze (1900).

Remarks. It seems that E. regalis from the Indian Ocean (not the specimens of E. regalis off S Australia described by Reiswig 1992) should be considered a subspecies of E. aspergillum (their similarity was reported before by Ijima 1901). During a re­examination of the holotype of E. regalis , graphiocomes were found as rhaphides (sometimes numerous) and primary rosettes. According to the picture by Schulze (1900), E. regalis has ridges as in E. aspergillum , but not knobs, flaps etc. as in E. imperialis . However, the ridges of E. regalis are low and not as prominent as in E. aspergillum . Furthermore, E. regalis differs from E. aspergillum by generally larger sizes of microscleres: The floricomes are 0.089 –0.118 mm and the oxyhexasters are 0.074 –0.104 mm in diameter in E. regalis , while in E. aspergillum the corresponding dimensions are 0.054–0.09 mm and 0.043 –0.079 mm, respectively. The spicule dimensions, recently made of the single known doubtless representative – the holotype, of E. regalis are given in Table 20. The proportions of the oscularia are as follows: hexactins – 2 %, pentactins – 94 %, stauractins, paratetractins, triactins and diactins – 1 % (n=214). Their rays are 0.004–0.03 mm in diameter. These proportions are largely equal to the wide range of corresponding spicules measured for E. aspergillum aspergillum ( Tab. 21).

Figures

FIGURE 25. E. aspergillum regalis Schulze, 1900, spicules, HM 3616. A, oscularia. B, rhaphid of graphiocome and primary rosette of graphiocome.