Ancorina bellae, Kelly, Michelle & Sim-Smith, Carina, 2012

Kelly, Michelle & Sim-Smith, Carina, 2012, A review of Ancorina, Stryphnus, and Ecionemia (Demospongiae, Astrophorida, Ancorinidae), with descriptions of new species from New Zealand waters, Zootaxa 3480, pp. 1-47 : 11-12

Ancorina bellae sp. nov.

( Fig. 1 C, 4I –M, 8)

Material examined. Holotype ― NIWA 62005: Princes Island, Three Kings Islands, 34.178° S, 172.046° E, 16 m, 15 Apr 1999, additional vouchers of the holotype are in the CRRF reference collection (0 CDN 6598-H) and at the USNM ( USNM 1182986). Paratype ― NIWA 62023: Great Island, Three Kings Island, 34.153° S, 172.134° E, 10 m, 14 Apr 1999, additional vouchers of the paratype are in the CRRF reference collection (0 CDN 6553-I) and at the USNM ( USNM 1182987). Other material. NIWA 62009: Princes Island, Three Kings Islands, 34.178° S, 172.046° E, 16 m, 20 Oct 2003; NIWA 52997, NIWA 52984: Northeast Island, Three Kings Islands, 34.165° S, 172.165° E, 10–20 m, 24 Nov 2002.

Type locality. Three Kings Islands.

Distribution. Only known from the type locality.

Description. Low, loaf-shaped sponge, 120 mm diameter x 50 mm thick, with a well-defined ectosome, 1–2 mm thick, and no visible oscules ( Fig. 1 C). Surface rough and sandpapery to the touch, internal texture fleshy, compressible, can be torn. Epiphytes often buried in surface of sponge. Interior has visible tracts of spicules, ostia visible as a tracery around the base of low mounds, colour in life cream to grey, interior beige to peach to tan, colour in ethanol beige throughout. The thick basal collagen layer of the ectosome has a heavy dark green pigment in life.

Skeleton. Ectosome is 1000–1900 µm thick and well differentiated from the underlying choanosome by a thick (250–400 µm) heavily pigmented, collagen-rich band above the ectosome/choanosome boundary. This collagen layer is permeated with cyanobacteria, conferring a dark green colour in life. The ectosome is translucent, and reinforced with radiating bunches of dichotriaenes, the end of the rhabdomes just entering the choanosome, the cladomes uppermost. A very dense crust of microscleres covers the surface, 70–140 µm thick, enveloping the cladomes of the dichotriaenes. Large oxeas radiate in tight bundles within the choanosome. Large and small oxyasters are packed in the choanosome.

Skeleton. Megascleres ( Fig. 4 I–J) are oxeas, very large, fusiform, 4418 (2574–5670) x 51 (29–75) µm; prodichotriaenes ( Fig. 4 I), very large with a long, gradually tapering rhabdome and a small, tulip-shaped cladome, the protorhabd facing well forward. Rhabdome length 3897 (3272–4811) µm, cladome width 224 (185– 291) µm, protoclad length 114 (79–150) µm, deutroclad length 61 (37–147) µm; anatriaenes ( Fig. 4 J), very long, slender, 3119 (2055–4217) µm long, with a small, flat cladome, 82 (57–117) µm wide (n=13).

Microscleres ( Fig. 4 K–M) are oxyasters I ( Fig. 4 K) with 6–12 smooth conical rays, 60 (39–72) µm diameter; oxyaster II ( Fig. 4 L), rays with several prominent spines, 15 (12–18) µm diameter; sanidasterhabds ( Fig. 4 M), cruciform to irregularly cruciform, with 4–6 short irregular bulbous rays emanating from an elongated centrum, acanthose, 5 (4–6) µm long.

Substrate, depth range, and ecology. Collected from walls, boulder slopes, archways, frequently partially encrusted by a variety of epiphytes, between 10– 20 m.

Etymology. Named after Lori J. Bell, co-founder of the Coral Reef Research Foundation, Palau, in recognition of the contribution she has made to our knowledge of Northland sponges through CRRF’s collections in 1999, and for her discovery of this new species.

Remarks. Ancorina bellae sp. nov. conforms to the general skeletal characteristics of the genus ( Fig. 3 ), having a conspicuous 2 mm thick ectosome with a collagen-rich layer at the base of the ectosome, discrete brushes of triaenes with their rhabdomes in the ectosome and cladomes outermost, and oxeas that are not strictly radial in the choanosome. The microscleres are sanidasterhabds and two sizes of oxyasters.

A. bellae sp. nov. differs from A. diplococcus and A. stalagmoides in the following ways: A. bellae sp. nov. displays markedly different colouration of ectosome and choanosome, which is white with a peach-coloured interior, while A. diplococcus is magenta with a tan interior, and A. stalagmoides is tan. In terms of spiculation there are also large differences in the form of the triaene: protriaenes and prodichotriaenes in A. stalagmoides , and ‘ortho’ dichotriaenes in A. diplococcus . The prodichotriaenes and oxeas in A. bellae sp. nov. are enormous compared to those of A. diplococcus , and the former are prodichotriaenes, not the more typical plagiodichotriaenes as in A. diplococcus . Ancorina bellae sp. nov. also has anatriaenes, and is the only species of Ancorina to possess them amongst New Zealand species. The sanidasterhabds of A. bellae sp. nov. are much less regular than those in A. diplococcus and A. stalagmoides , they are cruciform to elongate cruciform with bulbous irregular rays, whereas those of A. diplococcus and A. stalagmoides are an irregular dumbbell shape. Finally, A. bellae sp. nov. has a small category of oxyasters that are abundant in the choanosome with the larger oxyasters; these are absent in A. diplococcus .

Figures

FIGURE 1. New Zealand species of Ancorina and Ecionemia: A. Ancorina diplococcus (Dendy, 1924), NIWA 62048, ex situ, scale = 1 cm; B. Ancorina stalagmoides Dendy, 1924, NIWA 49896, ex situ, scale = 5 cm; C. Ancorina bellae sp. nov., holotype NIWA 62005, in situ, scale = 5 cm; D. Ancorina globosa sp. nov., paratype NIWA 62464, preserved, scale = 4 cm; E. Ecionemia alata (Dendy, 1924), NIWA 62217, loaf form, in situ, scale = 10 cm; F. Ecionemia alata (Dendy, 1924), meandering cup form, Spirits Bay, in situ, 80 m, scale = 40 cm; G. Ecionemia novaezealandiae (Dendy, 1924), NIWA 44221, pumpkinshaped form, preserved, scale = 5 cm; H. Ecionemia novaezealandiae (Dendy, 1924), NIWA 62156, tuberose form, ex situ, scale = 5 cm.

FIGURE 3. Generalised skeletal architecture for species of Ancorina, Stryphnus, Ecionemia and Stellettinopsis (not to scale). Illustration of Ancorina from histological section of A. diplococcus (Dendy, 1924), illustration of Stryphnus from histological section of S. poculum sp. nov., illustration of Ecionemia from histological section of E. alata (Dendy, 1924), and illustration of Stellettinopsis from image of histological sections of S. megastylifera in Cárdenas et al. (2009: Fig. 5 E, F).

FIGURE 4. Megascleres and microscleres of New Zealand species of Ancorina: Ancorina diplococcus, NIWA 62048: A. dichotriaene, scale = 500 µm; B. oxyaster I, scale = 10 µm; C. dumbbell-shaped sanidasterhabds, scale = 5 µm. Ancorina stalagmoides, NIWA 49896: D. protriaene, scale = 500 µm; E. prodichotriaene, scale = 500 µm; F. oxyaster I, scale = 10 µm; G. oxyaster II, scale = 5 µm; H. dumbbell-shaped sanidasterhabds, scale = 5 µm. Ancorina bellae sp. nov., NIWA 62005: I. prodichotriaene, scale = 500 µm; J. anatriaene, scale = 200 µm; K. oxyaster I, scale = 20 µm; L. oxyaster II, scale = 10 µm; M. cruciform sanidasterhabds, scale = 5 µm. Ancorina globosa sp. nov., NIWA 76782: N. dichotriaene, scale = 500 µm; O. oxyaster I, scale = 20 µm; P. spheraster-shaped oxyaster II, scale = 4 µm; Q. dumbbell-shaped sanidasterhabds, scale = 6 µm.