Sponges of the Guyana Shelf Author Van, Rob W. M. text Zootaxa 2017 1 1 225 journal article 37320 10.5281/zenodo.272951 e2c88f4c-3ac2-45f9-95e4-99b75561a081 1175-5326 272951 6D68A019-6F63-4AA4-A8B3-92D351F1F69B Neopetrosia proxima (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864) Figures 21 a–d Thalysias proxima Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864: 84 , pl. VIII figs 2–3. Densa araminta De Laubenfels, 1934 : 14 . Neofibularia proxima ; Wiedenmayer 1977 : 147 . Xestospongia sp. Collette & Rützler 1977 : 309 (cf. Zea 1987 : 117 ). Xestospongia proxima ; Van Soest et al. 1983 : 198 ; Zea 1987 : 116 , pl. 9 figs 3–4, text-fig. 34; Lehnert & Van Soest 1996 : 77 ; Rützler et al. 2000: table 2. Neopetrosia proxima ; Santos et al. 2016 : 336 , figs 4–5. (Not: Neopetrosia proxima sensu Campos et al. 2005 : 13 , figs 8A–D; Mothes et al. 2006 : 670 = Neopetrosia sulcata Santos, Sandes, Cabral & Pinheiro, 2016 ). Material examined. RMNH Por. 9878, Suriname , ‘ Snellius O.C.P.S. ’ Guyana Shelf Expedition, station G7, 7.28°N 56.7933°W , depth 64 m , bottom sand, 7 May 1966 . Description. Thick repent lobes ( Fig. 21 a), with punctate, optically smooth but finely irregular surface. Size about 5 x 2 x 2 cm. Oscules flush, scattered over the surface. Color (in alcohol) brown. Consistency hard, incompressible. Skeleton. At the surface ( Fig. 21 b), the skeletal reticulation is thoroughly confused with smaller and larger meshes. The interior ( Fig. 21 c) is densely spiculous, with vague thick tracts (up to 200 µm in thickness) forming an irregular alveolar reticulation. Spicules. Oxeas only. Oxeas ( Fig. 21 d), robust, curved, usually with sharp points, 149– 167 –182 x 6 – 8.4 –9.5 µm. Distribution and ecology. Guyana Shelf, Virgin Islands , Porto Rico , Colombian Caribbean, Jamaica , Belize , NE Brazil , from shallow-water down to 94 m depth ( Guyana Shelf 64 m ). Remarks. According to the various descriptions, this seems a variable species. The present material appears quite similar to Zea’s (1987) specimens from the Caribean coast of Colombia . It is clearly dissimilar in shape, skeleton and spicule size to material described from Brazil by Campos et al. (2005) under this name, but this was recently referred to a different species, Neopetrosia sulcata Santos, Sandes, Cabral & Pinheiro, 2016 . N. proxima is nevertheless present in Brazil according to Santos et al. 2016 . There is some resemblance in shape to Neopetrosia dutchi Van Soest, Meesters & Becking, 2014 , which has likewise lobes with flush oscules and a dense skeleton. The spicules of that species are distinctly longer and thicker (165–264 x 11–18 µm) and the oscules are up to 1.5 cm diameter.