Tetilla laminaris George and Wilson, 1919

Rützler, Klaus, Piantoni, Carla, Van, Rob W. M. & Díaz, Cristina, 2014, Diversity of sponges (Porifera) from cryptic habitats on the Belize barrier reef near Carrie Bow Cay, Zootaxa 3805 (1), pp. 1-129 : 19

Tetilla laminaris George and Wilson, 1919

Synonymy and references. Tetilla laminaris George and Wilson, 1919: 142 , pl. 58: 14, 59: 17, 66: 54a-h.

Material. USNM 1228910, Carrie Bow Cay, back reef near crest, inside and underside of Acorpora palmata coral rubble, 0.3 m. K. Ruetzler, col. 23 Apr 1974.

External morphology. A crust and thin cushion spreading over about 30 cm are, also penetrating cavities in the substratum; up to 10 mm thick. Smooth surface, scattered oscula of 1 mm diameter or less, firm consistency. Live color grayish brown, which stays about the same in alcohol.

Skeleton structure. Radial brushes of megascleres, including many protriaenes, in the ectosome. Spicule tracts in the choanosome, many arching toward the surface; loose megascleres scattered throughout.

Spicules. Two kinds of oxeas, one is symmetrically ended, the other has one sharp and one dull point. Oxeas I: 820– 2050 x 5–25 (1446 x 16) Μm; oxeas II: 900– 1800 x 5–23 (1170 x 11) Μm. Protriaenes (rhabdomes mostly broken): 1050– 2000 x 2–10 (1511 x 6) Μm, with clad length 40–130 (91) Μm. Anatriaenes (very common): 1300– 2018 x 3–6 (1662 x 5) Μm, clad length 20–50 (38) Μm. Sigmaspires: 10–15 (13) Μm.

Ecology. Cryptic on coral rubble, elsewhere on rocky bottom, <1m.

Distribution. First described from North Carolina, now extended into the Caribbean ( Belize).

Comments. This species is difficult to identify with confidence because of great variation of spicule types and sizes, many broken during preparation, and accumulation of varied foreign spicules. Study of additional specimens would be desirable. Color, shape (in part), and spicule types, however, agree well with description of the type from North Carolina.