Oceanapia cordia, Neto & Nascimento & Cavalcanti & Pinheiro, 2018

Neto, Carlos Santos, Nascimento, Elielton, Cavalcanti, Thaynã & Pinheiro, Ulisses, 2018, Taxonomy of Oceanapia Norman, 1869 (Demospongiae: Haplosclerida: Phloeodictyidae) from the Brazilian coast, Zootaxa 4455 (2), pp. 363-376 : 368-369

Oceanapia cordia sp. nov.

Figures 3–4 , Tables 1–2

Type locality: Brazil: Rio Grande do Norte State: Potiguar Basin.

Type specimens: Holotype. UFPEPOR 2199, Potiguar Basin (04°34’19.2’’S 36°54’29.2’’W), Rio Grande do Norte State, Brazil, depth 211 m, trawl, coll. Petrobrás 6, December 2009 . Paratype. UFPEPOR 2200, collected at the type locality.

Diagnosis. Oceanapia with ovate body and oxeas with lobes in varied arrangements (258–312 / 6–9 µm).

External morphology ( Fig. 3A–B ). Ovate body, 7 cm in diameter. Rough and hispid surface, easily detachable; hard consistency. Detachable cortex (8–10 mm, thickness). Cylindrical fistulae in the upper part, 1 x 0.2 cm (length x width). Colour when preserved in ethanol 80% beige, unknown in life.

Skeleton ( Fig. 3C–D ). Ectosomal skeleton as criss-crossed and anastomosed fibers forming elongated meshes (534– 753.2 –876 µm, diameter). Within these meshes there are small unispicular triangles (146– 269.2 –303 µm, diameter). Choanosomal skeleton of multispicular bundles (125– 239.1 –375 µm, thickness), forming circular meshes (366– 553.2 –733 µm, diameter), filled by an irregular uni to paucispicular network.

Spicules ( Fig. 4 ). Oxeas (258– 284.9 –312 / 6– 7.7 –9 µm): smooth, thin and slightly curved; many tips present anomalous shapes with different projections in various directions.

Distribution and ecology. The specimens were collected in trawls in the slope area of the Potiguar Basin at a depth of 211 meters ( Fig. 1 ).

Etymology Adjective derived from Latin cordia and refers to the heart-like shape of the holotype.

Remarks. Oceanapia cordia sp. nov. differs from the other species of Oceanapia by the lobes in varied formats on the ends of oxeas and its dimensions ( Table 1). The most similar species is O. peltata , which shares overlapping-sized oxeas. However, O. peltata has cylindrical fistulae with lateral lamellae in its oscules openings. Compared to other species from the Atlantic Ocean, Oceanapia cordia sp. nov. differs from O. bartschi , O. hondurasensis ( Carter, 1882) and O. niduliformis ( Carter, 1882) because they have strongyles as megascleres. The new species is distinguished from O. topsenti nom. nov. O. hetcheli nom. nov., O. atlantica Lévi, 1969 , O. cancap De Weerdt & Van Soest, 1986 , O. carotta ( Schmidt, 1870) , O. oleracea ( Schmidt, 1870) and O. stalagmitica because they have megascleres and microscleres, different from Oceanapia cordia sp. nov. which has only megascleres (oxeas). Oceanapia aerea ( Topsent, 1904) , O. coriacea ( Topsent, 1904) , O. elongata ( Topsent, 1892) , O. nodosa , O. nodulosa and O. reticulata ( Topsent, 1904) have smaller oxeas than Oceanapia cordia sp. nov. Oceanapia penicilliformis ( Van Soest & Sass, 1981) has larger oxeas than the new species (see Table 1). Oceanapia ascidia has two size categories of oxeas with telescopic tips. Oceanapia fibulata ( Schmidt, 1880) has a tubular and robust shape, O. isodictyiformis ( Carter, 1882) has an irregular shape with cylindrical fistulae, and Oceanapia robusta ( Bowerbank, 1866) is a yellow fan-shaped sponge, different from the external morphology of Oceanapia cordia sp. nov., which has an ovate body and small fistulae only at the top.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Location of study area and collection sites of species of Oceanapia, (1) Oceanapia hechteli nom. nov. (Pernambuco State); (2) Oceanapia cordia sp. nov. and (3) Oceanapia magna sp. nov. (Rio Grande do Norte State); (4) Oceanapia stalagmitica (Wiedenmayer, 1977) (Pará State). Abbreviations for States are: AP = Amapá; BA = Bahia; CE = Ceará; MA = Maranhão; MT = Mato Grosso; PA = Pará; PB = Paraíba; PE = Pernambuco; PI = Piauí; RN = Rio Grande do Norte; TO = Tocantins.

FIGURE 3. Oceanapia cordia sp. nov. (UFPEPOR 2199, holotype). A, preserved specimen; B, close up of oscules; C, thick section showing ectosome and choanosome; D, tangential section showing ectosome. Scale bars: A–B = 2 cm; C = 300 µm; D = 500 µm.

FIGURE 4. Spicule complement of Oceanapia cordia sp. nov. (UFPEPOR 2199, holotype) in SEM. A, oxeas; B, details of oxeas. Scale bars: A = 100 µm; B = 10 µm.