Neopetrosia proxima (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864)

Van, Rob W. M., 2017, Sponges of the Guyana Shelf, Zootaxa 1, pp. 1-225 : 35

Neopetrosia proxima (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864)

Figures 21 a–d

Thalysias proxima Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864: 84 , pl. VIII figs 2–3.

Densa araminta De Laubenfels, 1934: 14.

Neofibularia proxima ; Wiedenmayer 1977: 147.

Xestospongia sp. Collette & Rützler 1977: 309 (cf. Zea 1987: 117).

Xestospongia proxima ; Van Soest et al. 1983: 198; Zea 1987: 116, pl. 9 figs 3–4, text-fig. 34; Lehnert & Van Soest 1996: 77; Rützler et al. 2000: table 2.

Neopetrosia proxima ; Santos et al. 2016: 336 , figs 4–5.

(Not: Neopetrosia proxima sensu Campos et al. 2005: 13 , figs 8A–D; Mothes et al. 2006: 670 = Neopetrosia sulcata Santos, Sandes, Cabral & Pinheiro, 2016 ).

Material examined. RMNH Por. 9878, Suriname, ‘ Snellius O.C.P.S. ’ Guyana Shelf Expedition, station G7, 7.28°N 56.7933°W, depth 64 m, bottom sand, 7 May 1966 .

Description. Thick repent lobes ( Fig. 21 a), with punctate, optically smooth but finely irregular surface. Size about 5 x 2 x 2 cm. Oscules flush, scattered over the surface. Color (in alcohol) brown. Consistency hard, incompressible.

Skeleton. At the surface ( Fig. 21 b), the skeletal reticulation is thoroughly confused with smaller and larger meshes. The interior ( Fig. 21 c) is densely spiculous, with vague thick tracts (up to 200 µm in thickness) forming an irregular alveolar reticulation.

Spicules. Oxeas only.

Oxeas ( Fig. 21 d), robust, curved, usually with sharp points, 149– 167 –182 x 6 – 8.4 –9.5 µm.

Distribution and ecology. Guyana Shelf, Virgin Islands, Porto Rico, Colombian Caribbean, Jamaica, Belize, NE Brazil, from shallow-water down to 94 m depth ( Guyana Shelf 64 m).

Remarks. According to the various descriptions, this seems a variable species. The present material appears quite similar to Zea’s (1987) specimens from the Caribean coast of Colombia. It is clearly dissimilar in shape, skeleton and spicule size to material described from Brazil by Campos et al. (2005) under this name, but this was recently referred to a different species, Neopetrosia sulcata Santos, Sandes, Cabral & Pinheiro, 2016 . N. proxima is nevertheless present in Brazil according to Santos et al. 2016.

There is some resemblance in shape to Neopetrosia dutchi Van Soest, Meesters & Becking, 2014 , which has likewise lobes with flush oscules and a dense skeleton. The spicules of that species are distinctly longer and thicker (165–264 x 11–18 µm) and the oscules are up to 1.5 cm diameter.

Figures

FIGURE 21. Neopetrosia proxima (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864), a, habitus of RMNH Por. 9878 (scale bar = 1 cm), b – c, light microscopic of images of skeleton, b, surface skeleton, c, cross section of peripheral choanosome, d, SEM image of oxea.