Diving into the unknown: fourteen new species of haplosclerid sponges (Demospongiae: Haplosclerida) revealed along the Peruvian coast (Southeastern Pacific)AuthorBispo, André0000-0003-4025-6839Museu Nacional, Departamento de Invertebrados, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Quinta da Boa Vista, s / n, CEP 20940 - 040, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil & https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0003 - 4025 - 6839; afelipebispo @ gmail. comAuthorWillenz, Philippe0000-0003-4127-9346Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Taxonomy and Phylogeny, Rue Vautier 29, B- 1000, Bruxelles, Belgium & Université Libre de Bruxelles, Laboratoire de Biologie Marine, Avenue F. D. Roosevelt, 50, B- 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium & https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0003 - 4127 - 9346; philippe. willenz @ naturalsciences. beAuthorHajdu, Eduardo0000-0002-8760-9403Museu Nacional, Departamento de Invertebrados, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Quinta da Boa Vista, s / n, CEP 20940 - 040, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil & https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 8760 - 9403; eduardo. hajdu @ gmail. comtextZootaxa20222022-01-0650872201252journal article276610.11646/zootaxa.5087.2.19bad3816-a4ab-406c-886d-b0e0f83ddf3f1175-532658240174B472D23-386F-497F-A6DA-8867C081D6D8Pachychalina lupusapiasp. nov.
(
Figure 16
,
Table 3
,
Table 8
)
Holotype
.
MNRJ 11357
(
Vouchers
:
RBINS-IG 32239
-POR 11357,
MHNG 85356
)—
Islote Santo Domingo
,
Islas Lobos de Afuera
,
Lambayeque Region
(
06°55’09.80”’S
,
80°44’09.40” W
), depth
15 m
, coll.
Ph. Willenz
&
Y. Hooker
(
05/X/2007
).
Paratypes
.
MNRJ 13676
(
Vouchers
:
RBINS-IG 32241
-POR 13676,
MHNG 85914
)—
Puerto Rico
,
Bayóvar
,
Bahia Sechura
,
Piura Region
(
05°46’49.70” S
,
81°04’04.70” W
), depth
10 m
, coll.
Y. Hooker
, M.
Rios
&
Ph. Willenz
(
09/XII/2009
);
MNRJ 13687
(
Vouchers
:
RBINS-IG 32241
-POR 13687,
MHNG 85925
)—
La Cabrillera
, Isla
Foca
,
Piura Region
(
05°12’09.30” S
,
81°12’39.90” W
), depth
15 m
, coll.
Y. Hooker
, M.
Rios
&
Ph. Willenz
(
11/XII/2009
).
Additional topotypical material deposited in collections.MNRJ 11349
(
Vouchers
:
RBINS-IG 32239
-POR 11349,
MHNG 85348
)—
Islote Santo Domingo
,
Islas Lobos de Afuera
,
Lambayeque Region
(
06°55’09.80”’S
,
80°44’09.40” W
), depth
14 m
, coll.
E. Hajdu
(
05/X/2007
).
Comparative material.Pachychalina teneraThiele, 1905
:
ZMBPOR 3329
—
syntype
(slides),
Punta Arenas
,
Chile
.
Diagnosis.
The only
Pachychalina
in the Eastern Pacific with a thickly encrusting habit and attaining large dimensions, with abundant lobes bearing apical oscula, surface punctate, light grey colour alive with purple or violet tinges; choanosome with pauci- to multispicular primary tracts (up to 55 µm thick), connected by secondary uni- to paucispicular tracts; oxeas 90–164 µm in length.
Description (
Fig. 16A, B
).
Thickly encrusting,
3–8 mm
thick, occupying areas as large as
1 m
, nearly flat, or bearing abundant, commonly short, cylindrical or volcaniform (0.5–1.0 cm high), seldom long, digitiform lobes (2.5–3.0 cm high). Oscula, 0.5–3.0 mm in diameter, circular, usually apical on lobes. Surface punctate. At places, mainly at margins, convergent subectosomal canals are seen in
in situ
images, but it is not clear they converge towards oscula. Consistency easily compressible, but slightly resilient. Colour in life light grey, with a hint of purple or violet.
Skeleton (
Fig. 16C–E
).
No specialized ectosomal skeleton, only a few tangential oxeas strewn randomly amidst the orthogonal terminations of the main choanosomal tracts. Choanosomal architecture anisotropic at parts, or seemingly isotropic, with pauci- to multispicular primary longitudinal tracts (up to 55 µm thick), connected by short secondary uni- to paucispicular tracts inserted at various angles to the former. Spicule density decreases towards the periphery. Spongin is scarce.
Spicules (
Fig. 16F, G
).
Oxeas, slender, mostly subtly bent at centre, long, acerate points, dimensions 90–
137
– 166 x 1.6–
5.9
–9.0 µm (
Table 8
).
TABLE 8.
Spicules measurements for
Pachychalina lupusapiasp. nov.
All values in μm, expressed as follows: minimum–
mean
–maximum length x width.
Specimen
Oxeas
MNRJ 11357 (Holotype)
122–
142
–166 x 3.4–
6.0
–8.2 (n=30 x 30)
MNRJ 13676 (Paratype)
110–
135
–156 x 3.1–
5.9
–7.4 (n=30 x 30)
MNRJ 13687 (Paratype)
90–
133
–148 x 1.6–
6.0
–9.0 (n=20 x 20)
Ecology.
Specimens seen in nearly plane, often vertical, rocky walls, at
15 m
depth. They were associated to sea urchins (cf.
Paracentrotus
), ophiuroids, chitons, tunicates, blennies, algae, and large barnacles. Water temperature during collection of the
holotype
was 16 °C.
Distribution (
Fig. 3F
).
Known only from Bahía de Sechura (
Piura Region
) and Islas Lobos de Afuera (
Lambayeque Region
), in
Peru
.
Etymology.
The epithet
“
lupusapia
” is used as a noun in apposition derived from the L.
lupus
(= wolf) and Gr.
apios
(= far away), making reference to the
type
locality
Islas Lobos de Afuera
.
Remarks.
There are only two species of
Pachychalina
reported from the Eastern Pacific:
P. acapulcensisWilson, 1904
, from
Mexico
, and
P. teneraThiele, 1905
from southern
Chile
and
Argentina
(
Table 3
).
Pachychalina acapulcensis
is described as an erect lamella, bearing several lobes, a conulose surface, and oxeas 60–100 x 2–5 µm (
Wilson 1904
). Such features are enough to distinguish it from
P. lupusapiasp. nov.Pachychalina
.
acapulcensis
has a skeleton that is very similar to species of
Callyspongia
(
Cladochalina
)
, such as
C.
(
Cl.
)
fibrosa
, i.e., with stout spiculofibres encased by spongin and a complex reticulation of smaller fibres. In fact, several species previously described under
Pachychalina
in the Indo-Pacific have been transferred to
Callyspongia
(
Cladochalina
)
(
Desqueyroux-Faúndez 1984
;
de Voogd 2004
). We propose the transfer of
P. acapulcensis
to the Callyspongiida, classified as
Callyspongia
(
Cladochalina
)
acapulcensiscomb. nov.
FIGURE 16.
Pachychalina lupusapiasp. nov.
(MNRJ 11357, holotype).
A–B, holotype alive; C, skeletal architecture in transverse ground section; D, detail of C (sponge surface to the left); E, ectosomal skeleton architecture in tangential ground section; F–G oxeas. Scale bars: A, 5 cm; B, 1 cm; C, 500 μm; D–E, 200 μm; F–G, 20 μm.
The only other
Pachychalina
in the Eastern Pacific is
P. tenera
from the Magellanic area. The
holotype
is encrusting, up to
10 mm
thick, soft and delicate in consistency (
Thiele 1905
). We examined a slide of the skeleton of the
syntype
(ZMB POR 3329), that has an anisotropic architecture, with both primary and secondary multispicular tracts stouter than those of
P. lupusapiasp. nov.
In addition, secondary tracts in
P. lupusapiasp. nov.
are much shorter and more slender than in
P. tenera
, creating a tighter skeleton that is also more disorganized.
Pachychalina tenera
was also recorded for the Patagonian coast of
Argentina
(
Gastaldi
et al.
2018
), where it was found as encrustations bearing digitiform or volcaniform projections, extremely soft but resilient in consistency, violet coloured alive, and with a similar skeletal architecture to the
holotype
of
P. tenera
. Thus, both Chilean and Argentinean populations of
P. tenera
are clearly distinct from
P. lupusapiasp. nov.
Although classified in another genus,
H.
(
S.
)
spuma
is also similar to the new species based on the shared presence of multispicular tracts in the choanosome and punctate surface. Nevertheless, the primary tracts in
H.
(
S.
)
spuma
are subanisotropic, with ill-defined primary tracts, cavernous choanosome, and white to cream colour alive (
Sim-Smith
et al.
2021
). While
P. lupusapiasp. nov.
has an anisotropic reticulation, with well-defined primary tracts, choanosome not cavernous and a light purplish grey colour alive. In addition, the surface looks more heavily punctate in
P. lupusapiasp. nov.