Aulospongus aurantiacus Aguilar-Camacho & Carballo 2013, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Aguilar-Camacho, Jose Maria
name: Carballo, Jose Luis
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2013
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Porifera
Demospongiae
Poecilosclerida
Raspailiidae
Aulospongus
Aulospongus aurantiacus

description: Aulospongus aurantiacus sp. nov.   
(Figures 1F, 12, 13)   Material examined   
 Holotype: MCNM 1.01 / 657, 30 / 10 / 2003, Isla Venados (Mazatlán, Sinaloa), 7 m (23 ◦ 10 ′ 15 ′′ N, 106 ◦ 26 ′ 42 ′′ W). Paratype: 962-LEB-ICML-UNAM, 30 / 10 / 2003, Isla Venados (Mazatlán, Sinaloa), 4 m (23 ◦ 10 ′ 15 ′′ N, 106 ◦ 26 ′ 42 ′′ W).    Description   
Encrusting or laminated sponge 3–6 cm long and 1–2.5 cm thick. Oscules and ostia not observed. Surface hispid with conules circular to oval-shaped (300–750 µm long) and evenly distributed. Consistency hard and difficult to tear. Colour in life is orange, pale in preservation (Figure 1F).   Skeleton   
 Straight or curved styles in two sizes: 1). 440–970 × 10–20 µm (Figures 12A, 13A). 2) 135–250 × 5–15 µm (Figures 12B, 13B). Rhabdostyles microspined with prominent spines: 80–125 × 2.5–15 µm (Figures 12C, 13C). Curved or straight subectosomal subtylostyles / styles: 280–480 × 2.5–7.5 µm (Figures 12D, 13D) (Table 7). The ectosomal skeleton is a dense layer of spongin (40–100 µm thick). The choanosome has a plumose structure formed by multispicular fibre bundles (160–260 µm thick). The microspined rhabdostyles are echinating (Figure 13E).    Remarks   
 Aulospongus aurantiacus sp. nov. is a subtidal sponge from the Gulf of California. This species is characterized by having choanosomal styles and curved rhabdostyles microspined. The species assigned to this genus with these characteristics are: Aulospongus similaustralis Hooper et al. 2008, Aulospongus tubulatus (Bowerbank 1873), Aulospongus spinosum (Topsent 1927) and Aulospongus monticularis (Ridley and Dendy 1886). Aulospongus similaustralis Hooper et al. (2008) is a globular sponge recorded from the western coast of Australia. It has choanosomal styles (150–400 µm), microspined rhabdostyles (70–255 µm) and subectosomal tylostyles (720–1400 µm). Aulospongus aurantiacus sp. nov. has styles in two categories and ectosomal subtylostyles / styles while A. similaustralis has one category of styles and ectosomal tylostyles. Aulospongus tubulatus (Bowerbank 1873) is a massive or tubular sponge recorded from Sri Lanka. It has choanosomal rhabdostyles (304–462 µm), rhabdostyles microspined (109–126 µm) and ectosomal styles (212–250 µm). The rhabdostyles are longer in A. aurantiacus sp. nov. than in A. tubulatus. Aulospongus spinosum (Topsent 1927) is a bulbous sponge described from Cape Verde at 219 m depth. It has choanosomal rhabdostyles in two sizes (770–1085 µm and 90–182 µm), acanthostyles (75–145 µm) and ectosomal oxeas (40–50 µm). The morphology of the ectosomal spicules is the main difference between these species: styles / subtylostyles in A. aurantiacus sp. nov. and oxeas in A. spinosum. Aulospongus monticularis (Ridley and Dendy 1886) is an encrusting or massive sponge described from Cape Verde. This species has choanosomal rhabdostyles (290–518 µm), microspined rhabdostyles (132–275 µm) and subectosomal styles (620–960 µm). Aulospongus aurantiacus has the subectosomal styles shorter than A. monticularis.    Etymology   
 Named aurantiacus which means orange in Latin.
description: Published as part of Aguilar-Camacho, Jose Maria & Carballo, Jose Luis, 2013, Raspailiidae (Porifera: Demospongiae: Axinellida) from the Mexican Pacific Ocean with the description of seven new species, pp. 1663-1706 in Journal of Natural History (J. Nat. Hist.) (J. Nat. Hist.) 47 (25 - 28) on pages 1680-1683, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2013.769642, http://zenodo.org/record/4607504