Tedania (Tedania) ignis (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864)

Van, Rob W. M., 2017, Sponges of the Guyana Shelf, Zootaxa 1, pp. 1-225 : 165-166

Tedania (Tedania) ignis (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864)

Figures 103 a–e

Restricted synonymy:

Thalysias igni s Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864: 83, pl. XVIII figs 1, 7. Tedania ignis ; Verrill 1907: 339; Van Soest 1984: 49, pl. IV fig. 7, text-fig. 17. Tedania (Tedania) ignis ; Desqueyroux-Faúndez & Van Soest 1996: 51.

Material examined. RMNH Por. 6308, Guyana, ‘Luymes’ Guyana Shelf Expedition, station 107, 7.7°N 57.5°W, depth 65 m, muddy sand bottom with shells, 5 September 1970 ; RMNH Por. 9807, 9837, Guyana, ‘Luymes’ Guyana Shelf Expedition, station 65, 7.55°N 57.0833°W, depth 63 m, sandy bottom, 31 August 1970 ; RMNH Por. 9949, Suriname, ‘ Snellius O.C.P.S. ’ Guyana Shelf Expedition, station F46, 6.312°N 56.57°W, depth 26–29 m, bottom sand, 7 May 1966 .

Description. ( Fig. 103 a) Massive, lobate or lumpy specimens, largest collected specimen 5 x 3 x 3 cm. Surface smooth but rather uneven, with one or two small oscules, presumably shrunk after collection. Color in alcohol beige or off-white. Consistency compressible, fragile.

Skeleton. The interior skeleton is vaguely reticulate, made up of single styles or thin bundles of a few styles. Many loose styles and onychaetes. The surface is carried by loose bundles of tylotes, partially arranged tangentially.

Spicules. ( Figs 103 b–e) Styles, tylotes, onychaetes.

Styles ( Figs 103 b,b1), smooth, usually lightly curved and slightly constricted at the rounded end and with sharp points at the opposite end, rather uniform in length and thickness, 288– 305 –318 x 6 – 7.9 –10 µm.

Tylotes ( Figs 103 c,c1), with strongly developed spines at the heads, with straight smooth shaft, likewise rather uniform in size, 269– 284 –294 x 4 – 4.9 –6 µm.

Onychaetes, spined throughout, in a large size range, but divisible into (1) longer ( Figs 103 d,d1), 231– 260 –285 x 1 – 1.4 –2 µm, and (2) shorter, stubby spicules ( Figs 103 e,e1), 67– 81 –135 x 1 – 1.2 –1.5 µm.

Distribution and ecology. Guyana Shelf and throughout the Tropical Western Atlantic, including NE Brazil, in a large variety of habitats, from 0–91 m ( Guyana Shelf 26–65 m).

Remarks. The present specimens have average spicule sizes similar to those measured by Zea (1987) for Colombian specimens, but his and the present material have the spicules larger and thicker (10–20%) than those measured by Hechtel (1965), Wiedenmayer (1977) and Van Soest (1984) for specimens from Jamaica, Bahamas and Curaçao, respectively. Possibly, the phenomenon of silica enrichment from nearby river outflows, suggested by Zea (1987) (p. 234), is responsible for this difference.

Figures

FIGURE 103. Tedania (Tedania) ignis (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864). a, habitus of RMNH Por. 6308 (scale bar = 1 cm), b – e, SEM images of the spicules, b, style, b 1, details of b, c, microspined tylote, c 1, details of c, d, long onychaete, d 1, details of d, e, short onychaete, e 1, enlarged image of e.