Tedania (Tedaniopsis) wellsae, Goodwin & Brickle, 2012

Goodwin, Claire & Brickle, Paul, 2012, Sponge biodiversity of South Georgia island with descriptions of fifteen new species, Zootaxa 3542, pp. 1-48 : 29-31

Tedania (Tedaniopsis) wellsae sp. nov.

( Figure 16)

Type material: Holotype: BELUM Mc 7578. Sample in 95% ethanol, tissue section and spicule preparation on slides. Prion Island Site 1, South Georgia (54°001.590’S, 37°15.178’W); depth 17.6m; collected by C. Goodwin, D. Poncet, and P. Brewin, 19 th November 2010.

Paratypes: Samples in 95% ethanol, tissue section and spicule preparation on slides. BELUM Mc 7637. Bird Sound Site 2, South Georgia (54°01.149’S, 38° 01.026’W); depth 18m; collected by C. Goodwin, S. Cartwright and P. Brickle, 22 nd November 2010 . BELUM Mc 7642. Bird Sound, Site 4, South Georgia (54°02.095’S, 38° 00.187’W); depth 6m; collected by J. Brown and S. Brown, 22 nd November 2010 .

Comparative material examined: BMNH 79.12.27.12 Tedania tenuicapitata Ridley, 1881 , Holotype. Tissue section and spicule preparation slides.

Etymology: Named after Dr Emma Wells, the algal taxonomist on this expedition.

External morphology: In situ appearance: Custard yellow thin (<5mm) crust. Encrusting on bedrock or algae and forming patches up to 15cm in diameter. Bumpy surface with veins visible in between bumps ( Fig. 16a).

Preserved appearance: Cream crust. Firm, not compressible. Surface in brain-like folds ( Fig. 16a).

Skeleton: The choanosomal skeleton is formed of ascending columns of 4–6 styles irregularly branched and connected with small columns 2–3 styles wide. The onychaetes combined into the choanosomal fibres and brushes but many free onychaetes also present in the choanosomal tissue. The ectosomal skeleton conststs of a palisade of tornotes ( Fig. 16b).

Spicules: Measurements from Mc7578.

Styles: 301(335)382 by 9.6(13.6)17.3µm. Some faintly curved ( Fig. 16c).

Ectosomal tornotes: 241(309)278 by 6.7(9.4)11.7µm. Anisotornotes with mucronate ends ( Fig. 16d).

Onychaetes: 63(74)86 and 159(190)206 by 1.4(2.2)2.9µm. The large are pointed at both ends, the small have one pointed and one rounded end ( Fig. 16e, f, g).

Remarks: This species can be separated from others in the subgenus by the size range of its spicules ( Table 8). They are similar in size range to Tedania (Tedaniopsis) tenuicapitata Ridley, 1881 which has similarly sized styles (296–387µm) and tornotes (185–270 µm), but much longer large onychaetes (132–327 and 52–75µm). However, comparison with the type specimen shows that all spicules are much less robust and it does not have the pronounced ascending skeletal columns found in this species. It differs from Tedania (Tedaniopsis) aurantiaca sp. nov. in having an encrusting rather than massive external form and the smaller size of its styles, ectosomal tornotes and onychaetes.