LELAPIELLA TERTIA SP. NOV.

(FIGS 17, 18; TABLE 9)

Zoobank registration: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: AF5A1C7E-AA51-4D4B-A330- CAD 0D653719E.

Diagnosis: Lelapiella with cortical tripods and choanosomal triactines and tetractines. Diactines and spicules tracts absent.

Etymology: From the Latin word tertius, which means third, because this is the third recognized species of the genus.

704 M. KLAUTAU ET AL .

Type locality: Passe de l’Hermitage, La Réunion, Indian Ocean .

Ty p e m a t e r i a l: H o l o t y p e – U F R J P O R 8 9 3 7 (= 171109- PAE2 - TP13). Passe de l’Hermitage Reef, La Réunion, Indian Ocean, coll. T. Pérez, 9 November 2017, 18– 20 m depth .

Colour: Sponge white to beige in life and white in ethanol (although we have not observed this species during the collection, it corresponds probably to the sponge in Fig. 17A).

Morphology and anatomy: Sponge encrusting, with radial growing and oscula on the top of short cones (Fig. 17A–C). Aquiferous system leuconoid. Surface smooth. The skeleton is composed of large cortical tripods (Fig. 17D) and choanosomal triactines (Fig. 17E) and few tetractines (Fig. 17F). Sagittal triactines and tetractines similar to those of the choanosome support the oscula. Trichoxeas are also present.