Stylocordyla borealis var. acuata Kirkpatrick 1908

• Main Author: Van Soest, Rob W. M.
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2024
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Porifera; Demospongiae; Suberitida; Stylocordylidae; Stylocordyla; Stylocordyla borealis; Stylocordyla borealis var. acuata kirkpatrick; 1908; Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctica; East Antarctica; Hammerfest; North Norway
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10568122; http://treatment.plazi.org/id/BF4E397FFFB331079786FF4FB9540453

Stylocordyla borealis var. acuata Kirkpatrick, 1908 (Fig. 9D) Stylocordyla borealis var. acuata Kirkpatrick, 1908: 22, pl. XVI figs. 6-10; Hentschel 1914: 54. The variety was described by Kirkpatrick from Antarctica, off Mount Erebus, near Winter Quarters, approximate coordinates 77.8333°S 166°E, depth 900 m (holotype BMNH 1908.2.5. 123). It differs from the typical variety described by Loven (1868: 99, pl. II) (as Hyalonema , from Norway, lectotype SMNH-8152, from Hammerfest, Finmarken, North Norway, approximate coordinates 70.72°N 23.55°E, depth 360 m, the paralectotype from Storegge, Southern Norway, approximate coordinates 60.98°N 5.18°E, no depth provided) by the absence of microxeas in the stalk and instead there are microstyles in the stalk and the microxeas in the head lack a centrotylote swelling. The present variety resembles the Antarctic Stylocordyla chupachups Uriz et al. (2011: 247, from 70°50.6 S 10°35.40’W, depth 247-269 m, holotype ZMH P3730) in shape and in the absence of a palisade of microxeas/microstyles in the surface of the body, but the oxeas of the stalk in that species are two-three times as long. Although the sizes of the oxeas of the stalk given by Kirkpatrick appear unusually small and similar to the sizes of oxeas of the body of other Stylocordyla , there was corroboration of the small spicules of the stalk by Hentschel’s (1914: 54) report of similar specimens from Gauss Station in East Antarctica. Hentschel cited the same small stalk spicules, thus confirming that a second Stylocordyla species in shape (rounded head) and skeletal features (absence of palisade of microstyles/ microxeas in the body) similar to the species Stylocordyla chupachups does exist in Antarctic waters. I propose to recognize the variety at the species level as Stylocordyla acuata Kirkpatrick, 1908. Published as part of Van Soest, Rob W. M., 2024, Correcting sponge names: nomenclatural update of lower taxa level Porifera, pp. 1-122 in Zootaxa 5398 (1) on page 85, DOI:10.11646/zootaxa.5398.1.1, ...