Tsitsikamma (Clavicaulis)

Samaai, Toufiek, Kelly, Michelle, Ngwakum, Benedicta, Payne, Robyn, Teske, Peter R., Janson, Liesl, Kerwath, Sven, Parker, Denham & Gibbons, Mark J., 2020, New Latrunculiidae (Demospongiae, Poecilosclerida) from the Agulhas ecoregion of temperate southern Africa, Zootaxa 4896 (3), pp. 409-442 : 426

Subgenus Clavicaulis Samaai, Kelly, Payne and Ngwakum subgen. nov.

Type species. Tsitsikamma pedunculata Samaai, Gibbons, Kelly and Davies-Coleman, 2003: 19 ; 19–20, fig. 3G, 4F, 6B.

Diagnosis. Tsitsikamma species that are either stalked wrinkled/smooth and non-stalked wrinkled/smooth attached by a narrow base, having a single purse-like chamber with a much softer interior of wispy tracts. The isochiadiscorhabd microscleres have either two or three cylindrical-conical tubercles projecting from the shaft, though sometimes the third whorl is rudimentary.

Etymology. club-shaped (clavi - combining form NL, fr. L, fr. clava = club), Stalk (caul- or cauli- or caulocombining form (cauli - fr. L caulis = stalk)

Remarks. We herewith establish the new subgenus Clavicaulis subgen. nov. for the species Tsitsikamma pedunculata , T. michaeli Parker-Nance, 2019 , T. madib a sp. nov. and T. beukesi sp. nov., based on the stalked, sack or purse-shaped body morphology of the sponges, which, in effect, forms a single, reinforced chamber, unlike subgenus Tsitsikamma which is characterised by the possession of a rigid, honeycomb-like structure, with chambers visible to the unaided eye.