Paratimea oxeata Pulitzer-Finali, 1978

Bertolino, Marco, Cerrano, Carlo, Bavestrello, Giorgio, Carella, Mirco, Pansini, Maurizio & Calcinai, Barbara, 2013, Diversity of Porifera in the Mediterranean coralligenous accretions, with description of a new species, ZooKeys 336, pp. 1-37 : 5-8

Paratimea oxeata Pulitzer-Finali, 1978 Figs 5 A–D

Paratimea oxeata Pulitzer-Finali, 1978: 39.

Material examined.

Specimen SSS-BL1-F3A-spH; alcohol and dry state; Santo Stefano Shoals (station 1), 43°49'N, 7°54'E, depth 35 m, collected 14-02-2008. The specimen was entirely used for spicule preparations.

Description.

Very small (0.5 cm2) insinuating sponge (Fig. 5A) detected inside a cavity of a slice of a coralligenous block. Grey coloured in dry state.

Skeleton. Not observed.

Spicules. Macroscleres: oxeas in two size categories: I) large oxeas curved, bent or flexuous, with hastate tips (Fig. 5B), 810 (961.25) 1200 × 15 (18) 25 μm; II) small oxeas curved or flexuous (Fig. 5C), 300 (546.6) 700 × 2.5 (4.75) 5 μm. Microscleres: oxyasters with more or less marked centrum with 9-12 conical rays, 25 (41.5) 60 μm in diameter. In some cases the number of rays is reduced (Fig. 5D).

Distribution and discussion.

The species wasdescribed from Naples ( Pulitzer-Finali 1978) where it occurred on rocky bottoms at 60-100 meter depth. This is a new record for the coralligenous assemblage and for the Ligurian Sea and it is probably endemic for the Mediterranean Sea ( Pansini and Longo 2008). This is its first finding after the original description.