Haliclona (Halichoclona) de Laubenfels, 1932

Kelly, Michelle & Rowden, Ashley A., 2019, New sponge species from hydrothermal vent and cold seep sites off New Zealand, Zootaxa 4576 (3), pp. 401-438 : 415

Subgenus Haliclona (Halichoclona) de Laubenfels, 1932

Halichoclona de Laubenfels, 1932: 114.

Neoadocia de Laubenfels, 1950: 15 .

Type species. Halichoclona gellindra de Laubenfels, 1932 (by monotypy).

Diagnosis. Massive, tubiform, cushion-shaped or encrusting sponges, with a strong tendency in several species to form fistular outgrowths. Oscules usually large, not numerous. Colour orange, pink, purplish or white; in some species, there is a two-colour combination of a whitish transparent ectosome and a darker, coloured, purple or orange choanosome. Consistency relatively crisp and brittle, only slightly compressible. Spongin absent or scarce, at the nodes of the spicules. Ectosomal skeleton of the same structure as the choanosome, usually very loosely overlaying the choanosome, from which it may be separated by extensive subectosomal spaces. Choanosomal skeleton a subisotropic, somewhat confused reticulation, commonly intercepted by many choanosomal spaces. Megascleres usually acerate or hastate oxeas, reaching substantial sizes in some species. Microscleres, if present, microxeas or sigmas (de Weerdt 2002).