Asbestopluma Topsent, 1901b

Ekins, Merrick & Hooper, John N. A., 2023, New carnivorous sponges from the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia collected by ROV from the RV FALKOR, Zootaxa 5293 (3), pp. 435-471 : 453

Subgenus Asbestopluma Topsent, 1901b

Diagnosis. Asbestopluma without spear-shaped microtylostyles (from Lopes et al. 2011).

Type species: Cladorhiza pennatula ( Schmidt, 1875) (by subsequent designation, Topsent 1901b).

Remarks. The genus Asbestopluma has been recently summarised, including remeasuring the spicule dimensions of some old types, by Lopez et al. (2011) and Goodwin et al. (2017), with these data updated to include additional information, and more recently described species, in Table 4 of Ekins et al. (2020a). There have been three species recorded from the Australian EEZ, viz. Asbestopluma (Asbestopluma) desmophora Kelly & Vacelet, 2011 from Seamounts on the Macquarie Ridge, SE Pacific, As. (As.) obae Koltun, 1964 from Wilkes Land, Antarctica and As. (As.) maxisigma Ekins et al., 2020a previously known from off Jervis Bay, New South Wales, and redescribed here from new material off the Great Barrier Reef.