Craniella sputnika sp. nov. (Porifera: Spirophorida: Tetillidae) from the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, with suggested nomenclatural changes for the genera Tetilla and Craniella

• Published in: Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom
• Main Authors: Lehnert, Helmut, Stone, Robert P.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2010
• Subjects: Aquatic Science; Alaska; Aleutian Islands
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0025315410001025; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0025315410001025

A new species of Craniella from the Aleutian Islands is described. Craniella sputnika sp. nov. differ from all other species of Craniella in its habitus, absence of microscleres and size of spicules. The name refers to its resemblance to Earth's first artificial satellite, due to its spherical body with long spines. The new species was observed growing on another demosponge, Myxilla sp. We propose transferring two species currently in Craniella to Tetilla ( Craniella ellipsoidea Hoshino, 1982 and Craniella laminaris (George & Wilson, 1919)) and two subspecies ( Craniella globosa anamonaena Tanita, 1968 and Craniella laminaris symmetrica (Wilson, 1931)) from Craniella to Tetilla . As Craniella globosa anamonaena Tanita, 1968, is actually a species of Tetilla we suggest raising the subspecies to species rank as Tetilla anamonaena . Conversely we think that two species, Tetilla ovata (Thiele, 1898) and Tetilla hamatum Koltun, 1966 should be transferred to Craniella .