Haliclona (Halichoclona) sonnae Kelly & Rowden 2019, sp. nov.

• Main Authors: Kelly, Michelle, Rowden, Ashley A.
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Porifera; Demospongiae; Haplosclerida; Chalinidae; Haliclona; Haliclona sonnae; Haliclona (halichoclona) sonnae; New Zealand; Island Bay; White Island; Bay of Plenty
• Online Access: https://zenodo.org/record/3718357; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3718357

Haliclona (Halichoclona) sonnae sp. nov. (Figs 1, 2, 5, 6; Table 2, 4) Material examined. Calypso hydrothermal vent field (Southern vent field), southwest of White Island, Bay of Plenty: Holotype — NIWA 52859, IFM GEOMAR Stn SO 135/103, 37.695° S, 177.101° E, 179–181 m, collected by rock dredge, 10 Oct 1998. Paratype — NIWA 52897, IFM GEOMAR Stn SO 135/108, 37.687° S, 177.121° E, 193 m, collected by submersible, 10 Oct 1998. Type location & distribution. Calypso hydrothermal vent field, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, 179–193 m. Description. S pherical to hemispherical, cushion-shaped sponge (Fig. 2, 5A, B), about 30 mm high and wide, with an irregular, lumpy surface from which may emerge short, fine, hollow fistular outgrowths. Surface faintly hispid, top 2–3 mm easily detached from the underlying skeleton in flakes (Fig. 5B); sponge is highly cavernous; the subsurface appears hollow out of water, reflecting the overlying tangential ectosome, from under which the preserving fluid drains from the substantial subectosomal spaces. Oscules uncommon, flush with the surface, about 2 mm diameter. Texture in life extremely fragile, crisp, brittle, delicate. Colour in life and preservative, pale cream with a translucent surface, reflecting the subdermal spaces beneath. Skeleton. Choanosomal skeleton consists of a subisotropic to confused reticulation of oxeas, surrounding large spaces, rendering the interior highly cavernous (Fig. 5C, D). There is some organisation into rough uni- to multispicular tracts emerging towards the surface in the upper choanosome (Fig. 5D), criss-crossed roughly by multiple spicules, about 150–400 µm apart. The ectosomal skeleton is the same as the choanosome, the apical spicules of the primary lines project from the surface (Fig. 5C) and the whole is overlaid and interspersed with an irregular layer of oxeas in a more-or-less paratangential isodictyal reticulation that can be quite thick in places (Fig. 5C), giving the impression of a thick tangential skeleton that comes off in flakes, with ...