Mycale (Mycale) cf. bouryesnaultae Van Soest, Aryasari & De Voogd, 2021

Schejter, Laura, Cristobo, Javier & Ríos, Pilar, 2024, New records of demosponges (Porifera) from the South Orkney Islands (Antarctica) with a checklist for the region, Zootaxa 5403 (4), pp. 401-430 : 413-414

Mycale (Mycale) cf. bouryesnaultae Van Soest, Aryasari & De Voogd, 2021

( Fig 6b–f )

Restricted synonymy: Mycale (Mycale) fibrosa Boury-Esnault & van Beveren, 1982 .

Material examined: 2 specimens collected at stations 5 ( SOI; 61°25'S, 42°55'W; 589 m; 3/3/2014; MACN-In 44392; IEO-CSIC Col.) and 14 ( SOI; 61°19'S, 43°13'W; 499 m; 13/3/2014; IEO-CSIC Col.) .

Description: One broken and poorly preserved specimen (station 5) ( Figure 6b ). The second specimen is more or less tubular (station 14). Both are beige in colour. Megascleres are mycalostyles of 560–680 µm by 10–15 µm. Microscleres are two categories of anisochelae: the specimen recorded at the station 5 presented anisochelae of 30–35 µm and 60–65 µm, and the specimen of station 14, 45–50 µm and 85–90 µm. Sigmas: the specimen recorded at the station 5 presented sigmas of 60–90 µm while in the specimen at the station 14, 250–280 µm ( Fig. 6c–f ).

Remarks: our specimens are in accordance with the general description of M. (M.) bouryesnaultae , and the mycalostyles and anisochelae are in the recorded range for the species. However, sigmas presented some differences in the sizes among both specimens and also with the original description. Considering that the sampled specimens are broken and not well preserved, we decided to keep this identification with caution. Mycale (M.) bouryesnaultae was reported from the Antarctic Peninsula by Desqueyroux-Faúndez (1989) and Goodwin et al. (2019), from the South Shetland Is. by Ríos et al. (2004) and from Kerguelen Is. by Boury-Esnault & van Beveren (1982).

Figures

FIGURE 6. a. Mycale (Oxymycale) acerata, general morphology, scale: 6 cm; b–f. Mycale (Mycale) bouryesnaultae; b. general morphology, scale: 3 cm, c. mycalostyle, scale: 110 µm; d. anisochelae I, scale 30 µm; e. anisochelae II, scale: 15 µm; f. sigmas, scale: 30 µm.