3 abs - nae . ANE oinge fhe athe ei -tand ORE i eprom, ; oat ‘ " (eae Tae as ceteateltt an r ve eae * Eas aoe r sir igh ea ; = Roa ny nea wit certdhs® RAs pes bel - Natt : : 2! ‘ a3 igran Ash Shey ANSE 4 : aN pede atone eT ON a es tl AE x eae hehehe ee is ed a 2 ube™ eee aber sft el Fe sacioe ii Fey eo Fe hic t eeiget =e See sche tl gy tae SR AAA se ee pee abet Ab Ee : seat et pincer eine o Pec fee tae a el ah ar Te ta Se ee rs r - r Fag gy alg ate opel ° fates nee’ > Sanaa < > < % “ * ~ ree Sees a Ppt Aa Sehas . > a ee MUS. €6Me, ee ae. LIBRARY NOV 21 i¥bb FAKVAKW UNIVERSITY Postilla PEABODY MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY YALE UNIVERSITY NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. Number 103 10 November 1966 A NEW SPECIES OF CLATHRIID SPONGE FROM THE SAN JUAN ARCHIPELAGO Tracy L. SIMPSON DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY, TUFTS UNIVERSITY, MEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS INTRODUCTION In the course of investigating the cytology of clathriid sponges a new species from the San Juan Archipelago, Washington, has been found. On the basis of skeletal and field characteristics this form appears to be identical to chela-containing sponges described by de Laubenfels (1927) from California as variants of Ophlita- spongia pennata (Lambe, 1894). Cytological evidence reviewed here (see Simpson, in press, for detailed discussion) establishes that the chela-bearing sponges are not conspecific with O. pennata. METHODS Spicule preparations were made by digesting a piece of the sponge in hot, concentrated nitric acid. This was followed by repeated centrifugation and resuspension in distilled water. The spicules were then dried on slides and mounted. Hand sections were cut with a razor blade, stained in a saturated solution of basic fuchsin in 95% ethanol, mounted and examined. Routine histo- logical procedures and histochemical staining were employed for studying cell types and microanatomy (see Simpson, in press, for details of methods). N Postilla Yale Peabody Museum No. 103 DESCRIPTION Axocielita hartmani new species Ho.LotyPe: YPM’ No. 5075. Kilpatrick’s shore, San Juan island, San Juan Archipelago, Washington, U.S.A. Hasirat: A single specimen was collected growing on a rock substratum at two feet below mean low water level. FURTHER DISTRIBUTION: De Laubenfels (1927) has reported the occurrence of chela-containing specimens of Ophlitaspongia pennata from the Monterey Peninsula in California. These sponges are believed to be identical to Axocielita hartmani. SHAPE: The specimen is incrusting, measuring 30-35 mm in thickness and covers an area of 20 square cm. No upright pro- cesses are present. CoLor: The living sponge is bright red in color. When pre- served in alcohol, its color is drab. CONSISTENCY: In both the living and preserved condition the sponge is firm, almost brittle. SURFACE: The surface of the sponge possesses numerous small] pores which are irregularly shaped and randomly distributed. In addition, there are larger depressions each of which is partially covered by a thin translucent membrane. Some of the latter are subspherical in shape while the remaining are elongate. These larger depressions appear to be oscules (FIG. 1). EcTOsoME: At the surface of the sponge are spicule plushes usually formed of three or four thick styles standing erect. The points of these styles protrude approximately 50 beyond the sur- face. The heads of the styles are embedded in spongin fibers which end at or just below the surface. Erect, thinner styles occur along with the thick ones in some of the plushes. Thin and thick styles are also present at the surface without any particular orientation. There is no distinct class of spicules present only in the ectosome. ENDOSOME: Basally there is a layer of spongin in contact with the substratum. Ascending fibers, 50 to 70m in width, originate from the basal layer and course upwards, ending at or just below the surface. The ascending fibers are exceedingly thin and translu- cent, and one gets the impression in viewing hand sections that ‘YPM — Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. FIG. 1. Surface view of the holotype of A xocielita hartmani n. sp. The sponge is attached to a rock substratum. At a and at b are areas from which tissue was removed for analysis. Numerous small pores are just barely visible on the sur- face. Oscules occur either within elongate depressions (at c) or in subspherical depressions (at d). SGIEG: f AS / ‘cay oD es | i /V x a a ay LET eS A < MUs, Cuvier, 2G G1. LIPRARY NOV 21 Io AAKRVARW UNIVERSITY 1966 New species of clathriid sponge Op Op FIG. 2. Spicule types present in Axocielita hartmani n. sp. A. Thick styles. B. Thin styles. C. Toxas. D. Palmate isochelas. E. Microspination present on the heads of thin styles. Scale I: A, B, C. Scale II: D, E. there is very little spongin present. Thick styles lie partially em- bedded in the ascending fibers and protrude, with pointed ends out, at various angles from them. The ascending fibers are linked dt Postilla Yale Peabody Museum No. 103 One to another by short spongin fibers which also contain thick styles partially embedded within them. These cross bridges are thin (20.0 to 50.0) and usually contain only one, two, or three spicules. The bridges measure approximately 150 to 200, in length: i.e., the length of one thick style. Randomly distributed through- out the tissue of the sponge are thin styles, toxas, and palmate isochelas. Rarely, thin styles are also found partially embedded in the tracts of spongin fibers. SPICULES: Two categories of megascleres and two of micro- scleres are present in this species. The megascleres include two categories of styles which can be distinguished on the basis of the width of the spicule and on the presence or absence of microspina- tion on the head of the spicule. Thick styles possess smooth heads with no swelling. The shaft of thick styles is usually slightly curved. Thin styles possess one to five minute spines on the head of the spicule. In most cases the heads of thin styles are subtylote. The microscleres include numercus palmate isochelas and less numer- ous toxas. The morphology of the toxas is quite variable. They are oxyote with a deep, rounded arch. Some, however, approach a v-shape due to the height of the arch above the arms (see FIG. 2.) Measurements of the four spicule types follow: Thick styles: 156.0-177.8-228.8 X 11.9-15.7-19.0° Thin styles: 130.0-1/54.9-193.4 X 4.8-5.9-10.2 Palmate isochelas: 19.0-2/.7-23.8 Toxas: distance between tips of arms: 27.3-69.3-121.4 height of arch above arm tips: 11.1-20.7-43.1 DISCUSSION In its skeletal features, Axocielita hartmani resembles Axo- cielita linda de Laubenfels (1954, p. 156) described from the Marshall and Caroline Islands. The latter species differs from hartmani by growing as an exceedingly thin crust, by containing two sizes of toxas, by possessing some contort palmate isochelas, and by having tylostyles as megascleres. * Measurements in microns. Means (in italics) and extremes of 25 spicules in each category. Nn 1966 New species of clathriid sponge De Laubenfels (1927), in discussing a number of intertidal, incrusting, red sponges from the Monterey Peninsula, California, remarked on the variation in spiculation in Ophlitaspongia pen- nata. He found some specimens which contained palmate isochelas and others which lacked them; he designated both types of speci- mens as pennata. The two forms cccur together on San Juan Island as well and are strikingly alike in the field. Both have an incrusting mode of growth and are red in color. Skeletal similarities include the presence in both of smooth coring styles, toxas, anastomosing spongin fibers, and thin interstitial and dermal styles. On the basis of skeletal and field characteristics one might conclude, as did de Laubenfels, that the two forms belong to a single species. How- ever, in addition to the fact that A. hartmani has chelas and O. pennata lacks them, there are marked cytological differences between the two sponges (Simpson, in press). In these charac- teristics the latter species bears a close relationship to Microciona atrasanguinea Bowerbank (1862), the type species of Microciona. The generic placement of hartmani is difficult. On the basis of skeletal and cytological characteristics hartmani cannot be placed in Ophlitaspongia, Microciona, or Thalysias (Simpson, in press). Unfortunately, cytological data are lacking for the type species of a number of additional genera (see Lévi, 1960) which could include hartmani. I have decided to place hartmani in the genus Axocielita (de Laubenfels, 1936, p. 118) at this time because, on the basis of skeletal characteristics and growth form. this new species fits into Axocielita better than into any other previously established genus. Hechtel (1965, p. 43-44) has argued that the type species of Axocielita, Microciona similis Stephens (1915), should be restored to the genus Microciona because it possesses spiny styles. He furthermore states that the remaining species in Axocielita can then be transferred to the genus Axociella Hallman (1920). If this conclusion is accepted, hartmani would be placed in A xociella. Because the type species of A xociella is a very distinctive, branch- ing sponge with an axial core of spongin, quite unlike hartmani (and also unlike Axocielita linda) 1 see no reason for dropping Axocielita until additional non-skeletal data demand it. This means that either Hechtel’s conclusion that the type species of A xocielita actually belongs in the genus Microciona must be set aside for the 6 Postilla Yale Peabody Museum No. 103 time being, until additional characters are studied, or a new genus must be established to receive hartmani as well as linda. I have chosen the first course, the retention of Axocielita with similis as the type species, until additional information is available. This course is necessary since I have redefined the genus Microciona on the basis of cytological features (Simpson, in press) and it is inconsistent to return similis to Microciona without first having cytological data. In addition, I have found (Simpson, in press) that the presence of spiny styles is not correlated with the nature of the special cell types. Lévi (1960, p. 60) has expressed the opinion that in the family Clathriidae it is superfluous to erect or retain separate genera on the basis of the presence or absence of chelas alone. However, in the case of Axocielita hartmani the presence of chelas is associated with cytological characteristics distinct from those found in Microciona pennata and therefore I have separated this sponge from Microciona pennata at the generic level. Microciona spinosa Wilson (1902) possesses the same skeletal features as Axocielita hartmani, but the cytological features in this species are like those in Microciona atrasanguinea, thus confirming Wil- son’s original placement of the species in Microciona. The latter finding reinforces a conclusion which can be drawn from the present work: in the absence of additional characteristics (histological and cytological) one has no basis for deciding whether the presence or absence of chelas reflects an underlying, more deeply rooted similarity or difference between species. There- fore generic separations or mergers on this basis become a matter of preference rather than a reflection of relationships. The present work and that soon to be published elsewhere leads to the unhappy conclusion that in some cases taxonomic decisions which are based enly on skeletal characters and growth form are not indicative of taxonomic relationship below the family level. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am indebted to Willard D. Hartman for his help and sugges- tions in preparing this paper and have named the new species in his honor. | am most grateful to Shirley G. Hartman who has generously given her time and skill in preparing the spicule draw- 1966 New species of clathriid sponge 7 ing and to John Howard who prepared the photograph of the holotype. This work was generously supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant GB-192 to Yale University) and by a Faculty Research Fund Grant from Tufts University. LITERATURE CITED Bowerbank, J. S. 1862. On the anatomy and physiology of the Spongiadae. Part Ill. On the generic characters, the specific characters, and on the method of examination. Phil. Trans. Roy Soc. London 152: 1087-1135, pl. 72-74. de Laubenfels, M. W. 1927. The red sponges of Monterey Peninsula, California. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 9, 19: 258-267. 1936. A discussion of the sponge fauna of the Dry Tortugas in particular and the West Indies in general with material for a revision of the families and orders of the Porifera. Carnegie Inst. Wash. Publ. No. 467, Pap. Tortugas Lab. 30: 225 p., 22 pl. 1954. The sponges of the West-Central Pacific. Oregon State Monogr. Zool. no. 7: 306 p. Hallman, E. F. 1920. New genera of monaxonid sponges related to the genus Clathria. Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 44: 767-792. Hechtel, G. J. 1965. A systematic study of the Demospongiae of Port Royal, Jamaica. Bull. Peabody Mus. Nat. Hist. 20: 94 p., 8 pl. Lambe, L. M. 1894. Sponges from the western coast of North America. Trans. Roy. Soc. Can. 12(4): 113-138. Lévi, Claude, 1960. Les Démosponges des cétes de France. I. Les Clathrii- dae. Cah. Biol. Mar. 1: 47-87. Simpson, T. L. In press. The application of histological and cytological characteristics to the taxonomy of poecilosclerid sponges. Bull. Pea- body Mus. Nat. Hist. Stephens, Jane, 1915. Atlantic sponges collected by the Scottish National Expedition. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb. 50: 423-467. Wilson, H. V. 1902. The sponges collected in Porto Rico in 1899 by the U.S. Fish Commission Steamer Fish Hawk. Bull. U.S. Fish Comm. 1900 (2): 375-411. Flee PRR U ARS Oe A