Clathrina procumbens, (VON LENDENFELD, 1885)

Klautau, Michelle & Valentine, Clare, 2003, Revision of the genus Clathrina (Porifera, Calcarea), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 139 (1), pp. 1-62 : 34

CLATHRINA PROCUMBENS ( VON LENDENFELD, 1885)

Original type: Ascetta procumbens von Lendenfeld, 1885

Type locality: East coast ( Port Jackson ) and South coast (Port Phillip, VIC) of Australia .

Type: BMNH 1886.6 .7.3 (lectotype /alcohol). South coast of Australia (Port Phillip, VIC) , BMNH 1886.6.7.1–2 (syntypes /alcohol). East Coast of Australia (Port Jackson). Both from the Dr von Lendenfeld Collection .

Citations: Dendy (1891); Burton (1963).

The specimens named as the syntypes are typical clathrinas. One of them is attached to a Mytilus shell.

Colour: Preserved specimens white to light yellow.

Description: Cormus formed of irregular and loosely anastomosed tubes with variable diameters. The surface of these tubes is smooth. In some places, tubes attach to the substrate to anchor the sponge. At the apical region there are water-collecting tubes converging into the oscula. The skeleton has no special organization ( Fig. 27A ), comprising equiangular and equiradiate triactines ( Fig. 27B ). Actines are conical with sharp tips. The size of spicules is quite uniform, but there are also some small young spicules.

Remarks: Ascetta (Clathrina) procumbens was considered a synonym of Leucosolenia protogenes ( Ascetta primordialis var. protogenes Haeckel, 1872 ) by Dendy (1891).This synonym was confirmed by Burton (1963), and no one has resurrected this species since.

Three types of this species are deposited in BMNH: two syntypes and a lectotype. When we examined these specimens, we finally understood the problem involving C. procumbens .

As Dendy wrote: ‘one of his (Lendenfeld) figures (Pl. LXI, Fig. 1a ) agrees with this description (the original description of C. procumbens ), but three others, said to be of the same species (Pl. LXI, Figs 1b, c,d ), represent a massive, lobose sponge of very different appearance. The fragment also, sent to me from the British Museum, is evidently a portion of a massive sponge’. Dendy was right about this, but not about the synonymy of C. procumbens and L. protogenes . The specimen he agreed matched the description made by von Lendenfeld is the one

Figures

Figure 1. Clathrina adusta. A, photograph of the holotype (¥ 4). B, Cells with brown granules. C, triactines and tetractines. D, apical actine of a tetractine (arrow). Scale bar = 100 Mm.

Figure 27. Clathrina procumbens. A, skeleton. B, triactines. Scale bar = 100 Mm.