Terpios cf. fugax Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864

Calcinai, Barbara, Bavestrello, Giorgio, Bertolino, Marco, Pica, Daniela, Wagner, Daniel & Cerrano, Carlo, 2013, Sponges associated with octocorals in the Indo-Pacific, with the description of four new species, Zootaxa 3617 (1), pp. 1-61 : 8-9

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.3617.1.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:4DCCD152-65DA-44A3-AB19-59811384E1E7
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6156057
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03B7DE6C-8A28-F87F-FF38-C29DFE00C6F4
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Terpios cf. fugax Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864
status

Treatment

( Fig. 3 View FIGURE 3 A–E) ( Tab. 2 View TABLE 2 )

Examined material. Sample Bugor 330: Indonesia, North Sulawesi, Bunaken Island, Raymond’s Point, 20 m, February 2007; sample Bugor 505: Indonesia, North Sulawesi, Siladen Island, depth not stated, September 2007.

Description. Thin crust, up to 1 mm thick, covering most of the colonies of Carijoa riisei ( Fig. 3 View FIGURE 3 A) and Paratelesto rosea , leaving free only the anthocodiae ( Fig. 3 View FIGURE 3 B). One sample (Bugor 505) was observed growing on the substratum around the colony of C. riisei ( Fig. 3 View FIGURE 3 A). The specimen Bugor 505 consists of four branches of C. riisei , up to 10 cm long, while Bugor 330 is a small ramified portion of a colony of P. ro s e a about 4.5 cm long. In situ the sponge is vivid blue ( Fig. 3 View FIGURE 3 A), while ethanol preserved specimens are grey-light blue ( Fig. 3 View FIGURE 3 B).

Skeleton. Single tylostyles or tylostyles organized in brushes, with the head on the coral surface and the tips towards the exterior. The sponge surface is thus microhispid ( Fig. 3 View FIGURE 3 C, D).

Spicules. Tylostyles with very variable heads, generally pluri-lobed ( Fig. 3 View FIGURE 3 E), 102.5 – 390 x 2 – 7.5 µm. Refer to Tab. 2 View TABLE 2 for complete measurements.

Distribution and remarks. This sponge typically grows on dead coral (van Soest 2002a). Van Soest et al. (2011) stated that the European records of this species should be assigned to T. gelatinosa ( Bowerbank, 1866) .

Our specimens are indistinguishable from the Caribbean ones described by Duchassaing & Michelotti (1864) and re-described by Rützler & Smith (1993) both regarding colour and tylostyle shape and size. However, it is unlikely that this species has a disjunct distribution (Caribbean and Indonesia). Therefore, further comparisons including molecular work between Caribbean and Indonesian specimens will be needed to determine whether they belong to the same species.