Latrunculia (Biannulata) millerae Alvarez et al., 2002

Samaai, Toufiek, Gibbons, Mark J. & Kelly, Michelle, 2006, Revision of the genus Latrunculia du Bocage, 1869 Porifera: Demospongiae: Latrunculiidae) with descriptions of new species from New Caledonia and the Northeastern Pacific (, Zootaxa 1127 (1), pp. 1-71 : 66

Latrunculia (Biannulata) millerae Alvarez et al., 2002

(Figs 6G, 7; Tables 2 & 3)

Latrunculia millerae Alvarez et al. 2002 , PG. 168, FIG. 8

Holotype material. Not examined, NZOI H­798 (95DS6­10)

Additional Paratype material. Not examined, NZOI P­1267 (95DS8­9); NZOI P­1268 (95DS8­10) .

Other material examined. QM 310738 (cross ref. Q66C2065­L and Ts 121) labeled Latrunculia brevis identified by CNB, Fiordlands , New Zealand, depth 16 m, AIMS/NCI collection . QM 312177 (cross ref. Q66C6062­G and Ts 118) labeled Latrunculia brevis unidentified sponge in QM collection, Fiordland , New Zealand, 45º 00' 60"S; 167º 09'40"E, depth 30 m, AIMS/NCI collection .

Diagnosis. Massive, ovo­semispherical sponges with generally flattened cylindricalshaped oscules and with numerous short, thin lipped crater­like areolate porefields that are covered with a fleshy poral membrane. Colour in life green; in preservative dark brown. Styles are fusiform and slightly sinuous, occasionally hastate and polytylote, 382 (338–433) x 6 (4–8) m, n=20. Anisodiscorhabds (Fig. 6G) have an expanded manubrium. There is also no basal whorl of spines present above the manubrium as characteristic for this subgenus. The median and subsidiary whorls are deeply notched along the rim and divided into four segments, each segment possessing denticulate margins of 4–5 spines. These spines may be smooth or rough, often arrow shaped with serrated edges. The spines of the apical whorl are slanted upwards ending in a crown­like tuft of acute spined projections, 37 (32–43) x 5 (3–7) m, n=20. The choanosomal skeleton consists of a loose, irregular polygonal­meshed reticulation sometimes vaguely defined, and merging with the inner ectosomal region where the meshes become more oval and triangular (see Fig. 8B in Alvarez et al. 2002). Beneath the discorhabds in the ectosome is a thick paratangential layer of densely interlocking megascleres, approximately 100–300 m deep (after Alvarez et al. 2002).

Off the New Zealand coastline the species are found in a calm, low light and salinity environment, typically that displayed in fiords. It is attached to vertical rock walls, and not confined to shaded areas as in the other New Zealand species. Depth range 5–37 m depth.

Geographic distribution ( Fig. 7 ). New Zealand (South Island)

Remarks. Miller et al., (2001) and Alvarez et al., (2002) clearly differentiated this species from L. kaakaariki , L. wellingtonensis and L. Kaikoura on the basis of genetic differences, morphometric differences in the acanthodiscorhabd ( Table 3) and on morphological differences in the subectosomal region of the skeleton. This species also includes the genetic group identified by Miller et al. (2001) as “Fiordland B, separating it from L. fiordensis Alvarez et al. (2002) . Apart from the genetic differences, L. fiordensis are clearly separated from L. millerae on the basis of the acanthodiscorhabd morphology, and are currently placed within the subgenus Latrunculia as appose to Biannulata for L. millerae .

Figures

FIGURE 7. Worldwide distributions of Latrunculia (Biannulata) species. Distributions of A) Latrunculia spinispiraefera Brøndsted, B) Latrunculia citharistae Vacelet, C) Latrunculia purpurea Carter, D) Latrunculia oparinae Samaai and Krasokhin; E) Latrunculia lunaviridis Samaai and Kelly; F) Latrunculia microacanthoxea Samaai and Kelly; G) Latrunculia kaakaariki Alvarez et al.; H) Latrunculia duckworthi Alvarez et al.; I) Latrunculia procumbens Alvarez et al.; J) Latrunculia wellingtonensis Alvarez et al., 2002; K) Latrunculia kaikoura Alvarez et al.; L) Latrunculia millerae Alvarez et al.; M). Latrunculia austini sp. nov.