Leucaltis clathria Haeckel 1872
Creators: name: Lanna, Emilio
name: Cavalcanti, Fernanda F.
name: Cardoso, Lilian
name: Muricy, Guilherme
name: Klautau, Michelle
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Porifera
Calcarea
Clathrinida
Leucaltidae
Leucaltis
Leucaltis clathria

description: Leucaltis clathria Haeckel, 1872
Synonyms. Leucaltis clathria, Haeckel 1872: 159, Dendy 1913: 16, Dendy & Row 1913: 738, Hôzawa 1940: 136, Arndt 1940: 46, Tanita 1943: 394, Burton 1963: 549, Borojevic & Peixinho 1976: 1002, Borojevic et al. 1990: 258, Borojevic 1998: 75, Wörheide & Hooper 1999: 877, Borojevic & Klautau 2000: 190, Borojevic et al. 2002: 1148; Heteropegma nodus gordii, Poléjaeff 1883: 45, von Lendenfeld 1885: 1107, Dendy 1892: 113, Dendy 1893: 242, Hanitsch 1895: 209, Bidder 1898: 75, Dendy 1905: 230, Jenkin 1908: 453; Leucaltis bathybia var. mascarensis, Ridley 1884: 625; Clathrina latitubulata, Carter 1886: 515; Heteropegma latitubulata, Dendy 1892: 114.
Type material. No type material was designated for this species (Burton 1963).
Type locality. Florida (U.S.A.).
Material examined. UFPEPOR 140, station A4 (04º37’31.7”S – 36º46’00.7”W), depth: 70–101 m, 14/V/ 2003, coll. R/V Astro Garoupa, trawling. UFPEPOR 199, station A4 (04º37’31.7”S – 36º46’00.7”W), depth: 61–160 m, 14/XI/2003, coll. R/V Astro Garoupa, trawling. UFPEPOR 325, station A19b (04°48’32.3”S – 36°11’56.4”W), depth: 64–72 m, 24/V/2004, coll. R/V Astro Garoupa, trawling.
Description. Colour is unknown in vivo. The preserved specimens were light pink, brown or beige. The largest specimen is 7.5 x 3.0 x 1.7 cm. The shape is massive and lobate (Fig. 6A). Surface is slightly hispid and rough due to the presence of giant cortical triactines and tetractines. Oscula are surrounded by a thin membrane and localised on the top of lobes. The aquiferous system is leuconoid, composed of elongated canals radially arranged around the atrium, which is large and perforated by several exhalant canals. The cortical skeleton is thick (189–252 µm), composed of tangential giant triactines and tetractines (Fig. 6B). The apical actine of these cortical tetractines crosses the entire choanosome, frequently penetrating the atrium (Fig. 6C). The choanoskeleton is composed of small regular triactines and tetractines scattered without organisation (Fig. 6D). These spicules become very sagittal around the atrium with the apical actine of the tetractines penetrating into it.
Spicules (Table 5). Cortical triactines: equiradiate and equiangular. Actines are conical with blunt tips [194.6–358.5 (±24.1)–542.1 / 39.3 (±7.3) µm (n = 3 specimens)] (Fig. 6E). Cortical tetractines: equiradiate and equiangular. Actines of the basal system are conical with blunt tips [336.0–722.0 (±57.3)–1,050.0 / 96.0 (±10.3) µm (n = 3 specimens)]. The apical actine is shorter than the basal ones, straight, smooth, conical, and sharp (Fig. 6F). Choanosomal and atrial triactines: equiangular and equiradiate or sagittal. Basal actines are cylindrical with rounded tips. The sagittal triactines are concentrated in the atrium, while the regular ones are scattered in the choanosome [regular: 36.0–54.7 (±4.1)–101.4 / 4.2 (±1.3) µm (n = 3 specimens)] (Figs.
6G–H). Choanosomal and atrial tetractines: equiangular and equiradiate or sagittal. Actines are cylindrical and tips are rounded. The apical actine is thinner and longer than the basal ones, cylindrical, smooth, and sharp. The sagittal tetractines are concentrated in the atrium, while the regular ones are dispersed in the choanosome [regular: 37.5–50.8 (±2.6)–62.4 / 3.3 (±0.4) µm (n = 3 specimens)], [sagittal, paired: 39.0–59.9 (±9.7)–85.8 / 4.8 (±1.0) µm (n = 3 specimens)], [sagittal, unpaired: 26.0–41.5 (±3.1)–59.8 / 5.2 (±1.2) µm (n = 3 specimens)], [sagittal, apical: 26.0–55.7 (±8.8)–84.0 / 5.0 (±0.7) µm (n = 3 specimens)] (Figs. 6I –J).
Min Mean s Max Mean s Cortical triactine
FIGURE 6. Leucaltis clathria (UFPEPOR 199). A—preserved specimen; B—tangential section of the cortical membrane; C —transversal section of the cormus (cx—cortex, at —atrium, arrow points to the tip of the apical actine of a cortical tetractine); D—transversal section of the cormus; E—cortical triactine; F—cortical tetractine; G—choanosomal triactine; H—choanosomal sagittal triactine; I—choanosomal sagittal tetractine (p—paired actines, u—unpaired actines); J—atrial tetractine (a—apical actine, p—paired actine).
Known distribution. Cosmopolitan. Atlantic Ocean: U.S.A. (Florida) (Haeckel 1872), Bermuda (Poléjaeff 1883), Portugal (Hanitsch 1895), and Brazil (N, NE and SE coasts: Pará, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Alagoas, Sergipe, Espírito Santo, and Rocas Atoll; Borojevic & Peixinho 1976). Indian Ocean: Seychelles Islands (Ridley 1884, Dendy 1913, Hôzawa 1940), Cargados Carajos Shoals (Dendy 1913), and Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon, Dendy 1905). Pacific Ocean: Japan (Tanita 1943), Australia (Poléjaeff 1883, Wörheide & Hooper 1999), and New Caledonia (Borojevic & Klautau 2000).
Ecology. No epibionts were found associated to sponges of this species.
Remarks. The cosmopolitanism of L. clathria was questioned by Wörheide & Hooper (1999) and Borojevic & Klautau (2000), who suggested that its widespread distribution was probably an artefact caused by a very conservative morphological taxonomy. In Brazil, this species was recorded from Rio Grande do Norte, Rocas Atoll, Pará, Ceará, Alagoas, Sergipe, and Espírito Santo states (Borojevic & Peixinho 1976). Populations of L. clathria should be genetically analysed to verify the allegedly conspecificity of Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans populations. However, in the current absence of molecular data, we identify the Brazilian species as L. clathria based on its morphological similarities to Haeckel’s (1872) description and the geographical proximity to the type locality (Florida, U.S.A.).
description: Published as part of Lanna, Emilio, Cavalcanti, Fernanda F., Cardoso, Lilian, Muricy, Guilherme & Klautau, Michelle, 2009, Taxonomy of calcareous sponges (Porifera, Calcarea) from Potiguar Basin, NE Brazil, pp. 1-27 in Zootaxa 1973 on pages 13-16, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.185084