Geodia labyrinthica (Kirkpatrick, 1903)

Becking, Leontine E., 2013, Revision of the genus Placospongia (Porifera, Demospongiae, Hadromerida, Placospongiidae) in the Indo-West Pacific, ZooKeys 298, pp. 39-76 : 54

Geodia labyrinthica (Kirkpatrick, 1903)

Placospongia labyrinthica Kirkpatrick 1903: Plate V fig. 1 a–b, Plate VI fig. 1 a–f.

Reviewed material.

Holotype. BMNH 02.11.16.1, South Africa, East London Coast, 33°06'30"S, 028°11'E.

Spicules. Megascleres styles, oxea; microscleres sterrasters, chiasters

Remarks.

This species was originally described as 'Placospongia labyrinthica’,butdoes not have the characteristic cortical plates of Placospongia . The specimen furthermore has sieve pores, sterrasters with star-like plates, euasters, styles and oxea characteristic of the Geodiidae . In the original description, Kirkpatrick (1903) stated "the presence of chiasters is so exceptional that I thought at first that I had to deal with a geodine sponges, but there were no triaenes to be found" and as a result placed this species in the Placospongia rather than Geodia . Genus transfer to Geodia is, however, required as suggested on the World Porifera Database ( van Soest et al. 2011).