Mycale (Mycale) salvadorensis Mácola, Nascimento, Pinheiro, Neves & Johnsson, 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Mácola, Rosa
name: Nascimento, Elielton
name: Pinheiro, Ulisses
name: Neves, Elizabeth
name: Johnsson, Rodrigo
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Porifera
Demospongiae
Poecilosclerida
Mycalidae
Mycale
Mycale salvadorensis

description: Mycale (Mycale) salvadorensis sp. nov.
Mycale (Mycale) arenaria; Van Soest 2017: 156, fig. 97–98.
Material examined
Holotype. UFBAPOR 4593, Funil bridge (13º2’50”S – 38º47’32”W, between Nazaré das Farinhas and Vera Cruz, Bahia State, Brazil), col. Fernandez, J.C.C., IV.2014, 2.1 m depth.
Paratypes. UFBAPOR 1866, Porto da Barra Beach (13º03’S – 38º32’W, Salvador, Bahia State, Brazil), col. Berlinck, R. G.S. & Esteves, E.L., 06. VI.2004, 5–8 m depth; UFPEPOR 4353, Itaparica Island (12°52’48.4”S – 38°41’10.1”W, Marina de Itaparica pier, Itaparica, Bahia State, Brazil), col. Labimar, 28.IV.2022, 3–5 m.
Diagnosis. Mycale (Mycale) salvadorensis sp. nov. includes massive and encrusting specimens, with two categories of anisochelae (I and III), two categories of sigmas (I–II) and two of raphides/trichodragmas (I–II).
External morphology. The holotype is fragmented, a larger fragment measuring 8 x 4.5 cm (length x width). Massive, flattened sponge with some fistules (Fig. 10A) and encrusting form (Fig. 10B–C). Rough, smooth and irregular surfaces. Consistency compressible and easy to tear. The colour is brown in situ and in alcohol (Fig. 8B–C).
Skeleton. The surface skeleton is a tange ntial layer of single intercrossing megascleres (Fig. 10D). Rosettes with the largest anisochelae are common, measuring approximately 150µm in diameter (Fig. 10E). The surface membrane between the megascleres is charged with scattered sigmas and anisochelae, and abundant raphides form trichodragmas. The choanosomal skeleton at the base consists of strong, plumose bundles of megascleres that can reach 750 µm in diameter, fanning out in the subectosomal region (100–225 µm in width) carrying the surface skeleton.
Spicules (dimensions of holotype UFBAPOR 4593). Megascleres. Mycalostyles in two categories, fusiform, with faint constriction beneath the rounded heads and a sharply pointed end/tip: I, choanosomal (Fig. 11A) (354– 521.4–687/7.3–11–17) and II, ectosomal (Fig. 11B) (323–482.4–667/4.3–8.5–12.2 µm).
Microscleres. Anisochelae I (Fig. 11C), robust, with head approximately 25% of the total spicule length, shaft markedly curved (46–54–59 µm, head: 10–17–15 µm).Anisochelae III (Fig. 11D), smaller, with head approximately 60% of the total spicule length (14.6–18.1–19.5 µm, head: 6–10–12 µm). Sigmas, thin, with slightly incurved apices in two distinct size categories, (I) larger, C or S-shaped, very common, 26.8–37.1–56 µm (Fig. 9E), and (II) smaller, C- shaped less common, 9.7–13.1–17 µm (Fig. 11F). Raphides in two size categories are extremely common, (I) larger (Fig. 11G, R 1), 66–79.3–119 µm in length, and can be found in trichodragmata (Fig. 9H), (II) smaller (Fig. 11G, R 2), 17.4–24.2–44 µm in length.
Ecology. The holotype (UFBAPOR 4593) is associated with the sponge Coelosphaera sp. and the paratype (UFBAPOR 1866) with the sponge Hyattella cavernosa (Pallas, 1766).
Distribution. Brazil: Bahia State (type locality—present study). Suriname (Van Soest, 2017).
Etymology. The species’ specific epithet is dedicated to the type locality, the city of Salvador.
Remarks. Mycale (M.) has 55 valid species in the world, five of which are recorded for the Brazilian coast: M. (M.) alagoana Cedro, Hajdu & Correia, 2011; M. (M.) arenaria Hajdu & Desqueyroux-Faúndez, 1994; M. (M.) beatrizae Hajdu & Desqueyroux-Faúndez, 1994; M. (M.) laevis (Carter, 1882) and M. (M.) quadripartita Boury-Esnault, 1973 (De Voogd et al., 2024; Pinheiro et al., 2025). In the present study, Mycale (M.) salvadorensis sp. nov. is the sixth species of Mycale (M.) for the Brazilian coast.
The new species is closely related to M. (M.) arenaria, because both species have a similar spicule set, with two categories of mycalostyles (I and II) and two categories of anisochelae [(I), head about 25% the entire spicule height and foot alae prolonged basally forming a round pore (Fig. 11C); and (III), head comprising 60% of the entire spicule height, rudimentary foot bearing a basal spur (Fig. 11D)]. However, the new species has smaller anisochelae III (19.6–20.7–23.5 µm) when compared to those of M. (M.) arenaria (17.2–26.8–41 µm) (Table 4) and a third category of anisochelae (anisochelae-II), rare in M. (M.) arenaria, is absent in the new species.Additionally, Mycale (M.) salvadorensis sp. nov. presents trichodragmas in two size categories, with smaller sizes (I: 78–79.2–119 µm; II: 17.4–24.2–44 µm) when compared to the single category in M. (M.) arenaria (55–88.4–113 µm) (Table 4).
The specimen from Guyana identified as M. (M.) arenaria by Van Soest (2017) has external morphology and spicule dimensions very similar to those of M. (M.) salvadorensis sp. nov., which prompted us to consider it conspecific with the new species.
Mycale (M.) salvadorensis sp. nov. has massive or encrusting growth forms and differs from M. (M.) beatrizae and M. (M.) alagoana in that they are only encrusting, and from M. (M.) quadripartita, which is tubular. The new species presents anisochelae I of distinct morphology (curved axis instead of straight in side view) and larger trichodragmas (I: 66–79.3–119 µm; II: 17.4–24.2–44 µm) when compared to M. (M.) laevis (I: 44–66–80 µm; II: 19–21–24 µm) (Table 4). Mycale (M.) beatrizae has only one category of mycalostyles, no trichodragmas, and its smaller category of anisochelae (III) bears no basal spur-like projections. This is in marked contrast to the new species’ two categories of mycalostyles and trichodragmas, as well as smaller anisochelae (III) with a basal spur-like projection.
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Mycale (M.) salvadorensis sp. nov. presents only anisochelae I and III, with the same morphology as those in M. (M.) alagoana, but the latter has anisochelae II additionally. Mycale (M.) quadripartita has three categories of anisochelae with heads approximately 40%, 50% and 50% of the total spicule height, respectively, all with rounded bases without spur-like projections. Accordingly, it differs from the new species by the number and shape of its anisochelae, as well as its much larger sigmas and trichodragmas in seemingly only a single category (Hajdu & Desqueyroux-Faúndez, 1994).
description: Published as part of Mácola, Rosa, Nascimento, Elielton, Pinheiro, Ulisses, Neves, Elizabeth & Johnsson, Rodrigo, 2025, Four new species of Mycale (Porifera: Demospongiae: Poecilosclerida) from the Southwest Atlantic, pp. 401-430 in Zootaxa 5627 (3) on pages 422-427, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5627.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/15326189