TIMEIDAE Gray, 1867

Leite, Dora M. B., Fonseca, Cássio A., Leal, Camille V. & Hajdu, Eduardo, 2015, Two new species of Timea from the Southwest Atlantic (Timeidae, Demospongiae, Porifera), Zootaxa 4034 (1), pp. 161-181 : 162-163

Family TIMEIDAE Gray, 1867

Diagnosis. Tethyida presenting encrusting growth form with tylostyles arranged in tracts ending as bouquets, which generally pierce the surface (hispid). Tracts may be absent, in which case tylostyles are organized as bouquets. Additional tylostyles may occur in criss-cross fashion between the tracts or sparsely disposed tangentially to the surface or to the substrate. Microscleres are euasters dispersed in the choanosome, denser at the substrate and towards the surface, and forming a crust at the surface. (modified from Rützler, 2002 to include the species described herein)

Remarks. The diagnosis provided by Rützler (2002) had to be slightly modified to accommodate specimens described here, with skeletal architectures devoid of tracts of tylostyles. These megascleres are organized solely in bouquets, with some laying tangential to the surface in the new species described below.