Strongylodesma algoaensis, Samaai, Toufiek, Gibbons, Mark J., Kelly, Michelle & Davies-Coleman, Mike, 2003

Samaai, Toufiek, Gibbons, Mark J., Kelly, Michelle & Davies-Coleman, Mike, 2003, South African Latrunculiidae (Porifera: Demospongiae: Poecilosclerida): descriptions of new species of Latrunculia du Bocage, Strongylodesma Lévi, and Tsitsikamma Samaai & Kelly, Zootaxa 371, pp. 1-26 : 16

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.156901
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6276871
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03FE87D7-6709-FF82-FEB5-FD8FBAFFEFC0
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Strongylodesma algoaensis
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Strongylodesma algoaensis View in CoL sp. nov. ( Figs 3 View FIGURE 3 D, 5E, 6D)

Holotype material. BMNH 1996.7.3.3: Algoa Bay, Port Elizabeth, South Africa, 33° 50' S, 25° 45'E, collected by P. Coetzee, University of Port Elizabeth, 15 April 1994, 15 m.

Paratype material. SAM H 4964: Algoa Bay, Port Elizabeth, South Africa, 33° 50'S, 25° 45'E, collected by Dr P. Coetzee, University of Port Elizabeth, 15 April 1994, 15 m.

Description. Spherical to semispherical sponge, up to 6 cm high and 6 cm wide ( Fig. 3 View FIGURE 3 D). Texture soft, compressible, fleshy. Surface smooth, with numerous scattered large vaseshaped membranous oscules, 2– 4 x 2–6 mm wide and high, and fungiform areolate porefields 1 mm high and 3–5 mm wide. Sand particles are present in the sponge surface. Exterior and interior colour in life oak brown, in ethanol, dark chocolate brown. Contain biologicallyactive pyrroloquilonine alkaloids, discorhabdins A, D & H and 3dihydrodiscorhabdins (M. DaviesColeman pers. comm. 2001).

Spicules. Megascleres — Anisostrongyles ( Fig. 6 View FIGURE 6 D): smooth, with a distinctive axial canal, 328 (307–355) x 9 (7.2–9.6) m.

Skeleton. The choanosomal skeleton consists of an irregular polygonalmeshed reticulation of wispy tracts of anisostrongyles approximately 95–100 m thick ( Fig. 5 View FIGURE 5 E). Towards the surface the tracts are perpendicular to the surface of the sponge, diverging just beneath the ectosome into fine plumose brushes 120–150 m thick. The subectosome is composed of a loose feltwork of paratangential anisostrongyles approximately 120–200 m deep, above which these spicules become erect or oblique and pierce the surface. Anisostrongyles form a compact palisade around the opening of the papillae.

Ecology. Moderately rugged rocky bottom, patches of sand between rocks, together with coral and other sponges, 15 m.

Etymology. Named for Algoa Bay, Port Elizabeth, the location of discovery for this new species.

Remarks. Strongylodesma algoaensis sp. nov. is very similar to species of Latrunculia in the field, with areolate porefields, a soft, inflated, compressible texture, and typical brownish colouration. It is only at the histological level that the genus and this species is distinguishable, by a lack of microscleres.

Strongylodesma algoaensis sp. nov. differs from the genus holotype S. areolata Lévi by the larger size of the megascleres ((299 (282–319) x 6 (5–7) um in the holotype MNHN VEM 131DCL 1425), and in the possession of smooth strongyles (as opposed to faintly terminally spined strongyles in the holotype). The subectosomal skeleton of the holotype is a clear band of collagenous mesohyl 227–270 m thick, the base of which is a thin band of paratangential strongyles (20 m deep) (see Samaai and Kelly, 2002; Samaai, 2002). This clear region is absent in S. algoaensis sp. nov.. The areolate porefields of S. algoaensis sp. nov. are fungiform while those of the holotype are flat and circular or elliptical.