Cladorhiza evae Lundsten & Reiswig & Austin 2014, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Lundsten, Lonny
name: Reiswig, Henry M.
name: Austin, William C.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Porifera
Demospongiae
Poecilosclerida
Cladorhizidae
Cladorhiza
Cladorhiza evae

description: Cladorhiza evae sp. nov.
Figs. 10–12
Type material. Holotype: CASIZ 192773; MBARI sample D399-A4a; collected by ROV Doc Ricketts April 28, 2012, in the newly found Alarcon Rise hydrothermal vent field, east of Cabo Pulmo, BCS, Mexico; latitude: 23.37753, longitude: -108.53125, depth: 2299 m. Paratypes: MBARI sample D399-A4b (CASIZ 192774) and c (CASIZ 192775); collected by ROV Doc Ricketts April 28, 2012, in the newly found Alarcon Rise hydrothermal vent field, east of Cabo Pulmo, BCS, Mexico; latitude: 23.37753, longitude: -108.53125 bottle-brush filament arrangement, depth: 2299 m.
Type locality. Alarcon Rise hydrothermal vent field, east of Cabo Pulmo, BCS, Mexico.
Etymology. Named in honor of Eve Lundsten, beautiful wife of the first author whose commitment and support have endured through the years. Eve’s love for the Gulf of California also inspired this naming as the type specimen was collected in the deep sea, east Cabo Pulmo, Baja California Sur, Mexico, near where we honeymooned in 2006.
Diagnosis. Cladorhizidae unbranched, with three size classes of megaslere styles and four microsclere categories including sigmas of two size classes, contort sigmancistra, and unguiferate anisochelae.
Description. A stipitate sponge with filaments arranged in four or five discreet longitudinal rows, with valleys or depressions between rows (Fig. 10A–E). All three specimens with partial rhizoids (Fig. 10D); filaments long and fragile on specimens a (holotype) and b (paratype), shorter on the smaller and, presumably, younger, c (paratype). Holotype: 18.7 cm long, 3.2 mm wide at base, filaments up to 1.97 cm long. Paratypes: (b) 17.9 cm long, 3.4 mm wide at base, filaments up to 1.8 cm long, (c) 13.7 cm long, 1.7 mm wide at base, filaments up to 5.4 mm long. White in situ and in preserved state.
Spicules. Large styles 1 (Fig. 11A, Table 1) fusiform, straight, often with pointed end rounded, found throughout: L 2243 ± 460 µm (n=13). Large style 2 (Fig. 11B) fusiform, straight, often with pointed end rounded, found throughout: L 1224.36 ± 432.3 µm (n=263), W 26.13 ± 11.07 µm (n=50). Large style 3 (Fig. 11C) fusiform, straight, often with pointed end rounded, found throughout, however, smaller styles more abundant in filaments: L 825 ± 132.7 µm (n=21). Sigma 1 (Fig. 11D) robust, not contort, nor sigmancistroid; abundant in filament and axis: L 170.35 ± 9.7 µm (n=170). Sigma 2 (Fig. 11E) most 15° contort, some 90° contort, few flat, abundant in filament and axis: L 72.08 ± 11.76 µm (n=111): Sigmancistras (Fig. 12A) 90° contort, abundant in filament and axis: L 42.3 ± 2.3 µm (n=50). Multidentate unguiferate anisochelae (Fig. 12B) five teeth on head and three on foot, abundant in filaments and axis: L 22.6 ± 1.6 µm (n=50).
Habitat and associated fauna. Cladorhiza evae was collected from an inactive hydrothermal chimney that was covered in hydrothermally altered sediment. Galatheid and bythograeid crabs were observed in close proximity to C. evae on this inactive chimney. Nearby active chimneys had much richer communities of organisms with dense populations of siboglinid worms, galatheid and bythograeid crabs, and Thermarces sp., a zoarcid fish. Average depth of observation was 2373 m (±154; n=8), oxygen concentration was 1.54 ml/L (±0.27; n=8), and temperature averaged 2.02 °C (±0.23; n=8). Numerous crustacean prey were observed in various states of decomposition on C. evae (Fig. 4F–G).
Remarks. Of the thirty-six other species of Cladorhiza currently recognized (Lopes and Hajdu, 2013; van Soest et al., 2013), C. evae differs from even the most similar in spicule size classes and suites. For example, C. evae differs from C. rectangularis (Ridley and Dendy, 1887) in having greater style width, larger sigmas of two size classes, and the presence of a sigmancistra. Cladorhiza linearis (Ridley and Dendy, 1887) differs from C. evae in having larger styles (to 3000 µm), small, non-contort sigmas of one size class, and larger anisochelae. Cladorhiza septemdentalis (Koltun, 1972) has smaller styles, larger anisochelae, and smaller sigmancistras than C. evae. Similarly, C. thompsoni (Topsent, 1909) has smaller styles, larger anisochelae, and no sigmancistras. Cladorhiza segonzaci (Vacelet, 2006) has smaller styles, sigmas, and sigmancistras. Cladorhiza evae differs from C. caillieti in the presence of a large (~ 2500 µm) size class of megascleres, a single size class of anisochelae, and no small, thin, contort sigmas.
description: Published as part of Lundsten, Lonny, Reiswig, Henry M. & Austin, William C., 2014, Four new species of Cladorhizidae (Porifera, Demospongiae, Poecilosclerida) from the Northeast Pacific, pp. 101-123 in Zootaxa 3786 (2) on pages 116-120, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3786.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4913404