Claviscopulia facunda
Creators: name: Moser, Julia
name: Moraes, Fernando C.
name: Castello-Branco, Cristiana
name: Pequeno, Carolline B.
name: Muricy, Guilherme
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Porifera
Hexactinellida
Sceptrulophora
Farreidae
Claviscopulia
Claviscopulia facunda

description: Claviscopulia facunda (Schmidt, 1870)
(Figs 10–13)
Synonyms: Farrea facunda Schmidt, 1870: 16.
Aulodictyon facunda, Kent 1870: 250.
Claviscopulia facunda, Reid 1958: 3;
Claviscopulia fecunda, van Soest & Stentoft 1988: 11 (lapsus).
Claviscopulia intermedia Schulze 1899: 76.
Material examined. MNRJ 21294, MNRJ 21295, Brazil, off Pará State, upper slope, 01°31.316’N – 046°44.529’W, 250 m depth, coll. F Moraes / MV Alucia, submersible Deep Rover, 18.vii.2017.
Material examined for comparison. Farrea facunda USNM 980, Guadeloupe, 274 m depth, coll. RV Blake, 21.i.1879, det. O. Schmidt.
Diagnosis. As for the genus (Reiswig 2002b).
Description. Basiphytous sponge with irregular shape of short semi-open, bent tubes, 60–95 mm long by 50–65 mm wide, with walls 1.0–3.0 mm thick. Color white in vivo and in ethanol (Fig. 10A–C). Surface microhispid. Consistency firm but friable.
Skeleton: Dictyonal skeleton with more than one layer of dictyonalia, fused by lateral axes. Meshes triangular or rectangular, 120–330 µm in length and 90–270 µm in width, with spurs located in the dermal region only (Fig. 11A, B). On the base of the sponge, meshes present circular or triangular shape, 3.2–38.0 µm in diameter (Fig. 11C). Primary wall not fused; secondary wall composed by free pentactins (Fig. 11A, D, G). Dermalia formed by pentactins, sarules, uncinates and pileate clavules (Fig. 11D, H). Sarules and uncinates organized in bouquets along the sponge surface (Fig. 11A, D). Atrialia composed by pentactins and anchorate clavules (Fig. 11E).
Spicules: Megascleres pentactins, sarules, uncinates, pileate clavules, and anchorate clavules. Microscleres oxyhexactins, oxyhexasters, and discohexasters (Figs 12, 13; Table 3).
Dermal and atrial pentactins microspined, with conical spines concentrated close to the ends of each ray. Rays can present rounded or acerate ends (Fig. 12A). Center of the spicule slightly inflated. Tangential rays 125.0–185.2– 215.0 µm in length, proximal ray 150.0–212.0–290.0 µm in length; all rays width 7.5–10.4–12.5 µm.
Dermal sarules (Fig. 12B) with a characteristic cross in light microscopy and rounded or acerate ends, microspined in one side and lophoidal in the other, with a swollen end ornamented with distally-oriented branched teeth. Total spicule length 200.0–353.5–770.0 µm and width 2.1–3.2–7.5 µm. Head 20.0–33.1–47.5 µm in length by 3.7–11.3–20.0 µm in width.
Uncinates with thin barbs all over the ray and longer in one end; both ends acerate. Spicule total length 380.0– 751.2–1100.0 µm, width 2.5–4.5–6.2 µm. (Fig. 12C).
Pileate clavules abundant, with straight or curved shaft; umbrella with 8–14 acerate, symmetrical teeth; shaft base swollen or with few spines in the ends, which are acerate or rounded. Total spicule size 75.0–205.5–275.0 µm in length by 2.0–2.9–5.0 µm in width; umbrella 5.0–7.2–10.0 µm in length by 10.0–16.4–23.0 µm in width (Fig. 12D).
Atrial anchorate clavules with 6–10 umbrella teeth, often longer than in pileate clavules, and spines in the shaft ends. Whole spicule 160.0–197.0–250.0 µm in length by 2.0–2.5–4.8 µm in width; umbrella 7.5–11.0–13.0 µm in length by 12.5–19.4–27.5 µm in width (Fig. 12E).
Oxyhexactins with perpendicular rays, without spines. Terminal ends may be swollen or fused to each other or to the dictyonalia. Spicule diameter 32.5–68.0–97.5 µm (Fig. 13A).
Oxyhexasters with primary rays each with 3–4 long, slightly curved, smooth or microspined secondary rays with acerate ends. Spicule diameter 45.0–81.2–112.5 µm (Fig. 13B).
Discohexasters with long primary rays each with 3–4 short, spined secondary rays with umbrella in the ends. Spicule diameter 50.0–79.9–112.5 µm (Fig. 13C).
Geographical and Bathymetric Distribution. Caribbean Sea [St. Lucia (Schmidt 1870), St. Vincent, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Florida Strait (Reiswig 2002b)] and Northern Brazil (present study; first record for Brazil), between 161 and 823 m depth.
Ecology. Brazilian specimens were sampled on coarse sand to gravel bottom at 250 m depth. Crinoids, polychaetes and other sponges were found associated to the sponge.
Taxonomic remarks. The external morphologies of Farrea and Claviscopulia are very similar and they cannot be distinguished from photographs only, so specimens must be collected for microscopic examination. Claviscopulia is a monospecific genus characterized by the presence of both clavules and sarules as sceptrules, while in Farrea sarules are absent (Reiswig 2002b). The Brazilian specimens agree closely in external morphology, skeleton and spiculation to the last revision of C. facunda (Reiswig 2002b).
description: Published as part of Moser, Julia, Moraes, Fernando C., Castello-Branco, Cristiana, Pequeno, Carolline B. & Muricy, Guilherme, 2022, Manned submersible dives reveal a singular assemblage of Hexactinellida (Porifera) off the Amazon River mouth, Northern Brazil, pp. 105-130 in Zootaxa 5105 (1) on pages 119-121, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5105.1.4, http://zenodo.org/record/6332297