Higginsia lunata Carter, 1885

Morrow, Christine, Cárdenas, Paco, Boury-Esnault, Nicole, Picton, Bernard, Mccormack, Grace, Soest, Rob Van, Collins, Allen, Redmond, Niamh, Maggs, Christine, Sigwart, Julia & Allcock, Louise A., 2019, Integrating morphological and molecular taxonomy with the revised concept of Stelligeridae (Porifera: Demospongiae), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 187, pp. 31-81 : 70

Higginsia lunata Carter, 1885

M a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d: H o l o t y p e B M N H P. P.H. ’86:12:15:138 Brit.Mus.Sp. 68, (Carter, 1885, p. 358), 35 m, South Australia .

Remarks: A re-examination of the type specimen of Desmoxya lunata using SEM revealed that the raphides are acanthose ( Fig. 19D–G), suggesting that it might have affinities with Tedaniidae . The raphides are unusual; they appear to occur in at least three length categories and are ‘compound’. They consist of several slightly overlapping raphides glued together, whereas in Desmoxya pelagiae the raphides are spined mostly at the ends and are in trichodragmas with individual raphides single, not compound. The acanthoxea in Desmoxya lunata are diactinal ( Fig. 19C), whereas in Desmoxya pelagiae they are monactinal. In other respects, the spicules and skeletal arrangement are closest to those of Desmoxya pelagiae . We therefore take Desmoxya pelagiae as a representative of Desmoxya and propose the transfer of Desmoxya from Heteroxyidae : Axinellida to Desmoxyidae : Poecilosclerida .