Tedania (Tedania) tropicalis Aguilar-Camacho, Carballo & Cruz-Barraza, 2018

Sim-Smith, Carina, Hickman, Cleveland & Kelly, Michelle, 2021, New shallow-water sponges (Porifera) from the Galápagos Islands, Zootaxa 5012 (1), pp. 1-71 : 51-53

Tedania (Tedania) tropicalis Aguilar-Camacho, Carballo & Cruz-Barraza, 2018

( Fig. 24 , Table 9)

Tedania (Tedania) tropicalis Aguilar-Camacho, Carballo & Cruz-Barraza, 2018: 1312–1317 , fig, 3a, 4, table 1

Material examined. MCCDRS9471, Daphne Minor Island , 0.394° S, 90.351° W, 9 m, 16 Jun 2001 ; MCCDRS9472, Daphne Minor Island , 0.394° S, 90.351° W, 8 m, 21 Jan 2003 ; MCCDRS9475, Punta Vicente Roca , Isabela Island, 0.049° S, 91.558° W, 8 m, 16 Jan 2003 ; MCCDRS9473, Las Marielas , Isabela Island, 0.597° S, 91.092° W, 4 m, 2 Dec 2004 ; MCCDRS9474, Las Marielas , Isabela Island, 0.597° S, 91.092° W, 9 m, 2 Dec 2004 .

Type locality. Mazatlán , Mexico .

Habitat and distribution. Mexican Pacific and Galápagos Islands; 1–21 m.

Description. Thinly encrusting sponge, 5–10 mm thick, with a finely punctate surface. Inflated asterose aquiferous drainage canals are visible all over the surface in life, and are obvious in the preserved specimen ( Fig. 24C ). Numerous membranous oscules, 2–4 mm in diameter, are scattered over the surface, raised slightly on volcano shaped turrets. Colour in life is bright orange, interior is mustard yellow, colour in ethanol is beige ( Fig. 24A –B ). Texture is compressible, friable.

Skeleton. Brushes of tylotes are present in the ectosome. The choanosome is a loose plumo-reticulation of styles and onychaetes ( Fig. 24D ).

Spicules. Megascleres —Tylotes, with microspined heads; 175 (119–207) × 3 (2–5) µm (n = 60) ( Fig. 24F–G ). Styles, smooth, sharply curved near the proximal end; 185 (160–215) × 6 (3–10) µm (n = 60) ( Fig. 24E ). Microscleres —Onychaetes; 137 (107–198) µm (n = 60) ( Fig. 24H–I ).

Remarks. Specimens of T. (T.) tropicalis collected from the Galápagos Islands correspond well with the morphology and spicule sizes of the original description of the species (tylotes 150–210 µm; styles 150–215 µm; onychaetes 90–180 µm) collected from the Mexican Pacific ( Aguilar-Camacho et al. 2018). This is the first record of T. (T.) tropicalis from the Galápagos Islands.

One species of Tedania has been previously recorded from the Galápagos Islands: Tedania (Tedania) galapagensis Desqueyroux-Faúndez & Van Soest, 1996 . That species has slightly longer styles and tylotes than our specimens, and two size classes of onychaetes.

Order Tethyida Morrow & Cárdenas

Figures

FIGURE 24. Tedania (Tedania) tropicalis Aguilar-Camacho, Carballo & Cruz-Barraza, 2018. A. MCCDRS9475, in situ. B. MCCDRS9471, deck photo; C. MCCDRS9474, preserved. D. Cross section from MCCDRS9475. E. Styles. F. Tylote. G. Close up of the tip of a tylote. H. Onychaete. I. Close up of the tips of an onychaete (all SEM images from MCCDRS9471).