Syce1usa Haeckel, 1872 Syce1usa cf. simplex Specimen: ZMA POR‐11566
Locality: Seychelles, near Amirantes
Appears in the Amsterdam collec<on under its synonym Grantessa zanzibarensis. Grantessa sensu Borojevic et al. (2000) is characterized by an ar<culated choanoskeleton, which is missing in this species, see Fig. A3.1.1, E). Determined by R.W.M. van Soest.
Syce1usa aff. has=fera Specimen: GW893
Locality: Red Sea, Gulf of Aqaba
The sponge is a single cylindrical tube of ca. 1,5 cm length and 3 mm in diameter. Large diac<nes protrude the surface in bundles, some longer than the diameter of the tube (Fig. A3.1.1, F). The bundles of large diac<nes reach at least half through the sponge wall. The outer <p of the large diac<nes are lanceolate, and mostly broken off from our specimen. An oscular fringe is also formed by long diac<nes. The cortex consists of triac<nes. The choanocyte chambers of the syco‐
noid aquiferous system are supported by the longer of the paired ac<nes of the pseudosagihal subcor<cal triac<nes and the unpaired ac<nes of the subatrial triac<nes (Chapter 3, Fig. 3.2, A).
The organiza<on resembles closely to that of SycePusa has@fera. We had the opportunity to com‐
pare our specimen to two specimens from the Museum in Amsterdam (ZMA POR‐13421 and ZMA POR‐13429) that were iden<fied as SycePusa has@fera. Both these specimen were also sampled in the Red Sea, and indeed resemble our specimen. However, these and our specimen differ from the descrip<on of SycePusa has@fera. While the examined specimens comprise a single tube, S.
has@fera is branching and has an overall different appearance (see Row, 1909). Furthermore, the large diac<nes are much shorter in the original descrip<ons, and do not project the surface nearly as far as in the examined specimen. Addi<onally, according to a drawing of the skeletal arrange‐
ment, the diac<nes occur as single spicules and in regular intervals. In our specimens, the spicules are distributed in a more patchy fashion, forming bundles. Therefore, while the form of the diac‐
<nes suggest an affinity of our species to S. has@fera, we find that this and the Museum specimen probably belong to another, closely related species.
Grantessa Lendenfeld, 1885 Grantessa sp.
Specimen: GW 974, GW979 Locality: GBR, Lizard Island
Individual tubes, some<mes two connected at their base (Fig. A3.1.3, A). Each tube narrows to‐
ward the osculum. Syconoid, with completely fused radial tubes supported by an ar<culated skele‐
ton and with short diac<ne tujs at the distal ends (Chapter 3, Fig. 3.2, B; Fig. A3.1.3, B). Tetrac‐
<nes with a short and bend apical ray are present in the wall of the radial tubes. Pseudosagihal spicules are present at the distal end of each radial tube, with the unpaired ac<ne poin<ng out
from the radial tube into the neighboring tube. In Grantessa, a thin cortex should be present (Borojevic et al., 2000). From our point of view no such thin cortex is present in our specimens.
However, even in the drawings of Grantessa ramosa by Borojevic et al, (2000, see their Fig. 32) we cannot recognize a clear cortex and found that the displayed arrangement is almost iden<cal to the ones in our specimen (besides the presence of tetrac<nes in the radial tubes, see chapter 3, Fig. 3.2, B). Therefore we assigned our samples to the genus Grantessa.
Family: Amphoriscidae Dendy, 1892 Leucilla Haeckel, 1872
Specimen: ZMA POR 5381
Locality: Caribbean, Netherlands An<lles, Curacao
The specimen was formerly determined as Leucandra barbata (Gran<idae). We examined the skeletal arrangement and find this specimen to belong to the genus Leucilla. The cortex consists of large tetrac<nes, whose apical ray is slightly longer than the basal rays and reaches through the complete choanosome (Fig. A3.1.3, C). The unpaired ac<ne of subatrial sagihal triac<nes provide
Figure A3.1.3: Specimen of Calacronea.
A: Habitus of Grantessa sp.; B: transverse sec<on of Grantessa sp. (GW 979); C: transverse sec<on of Leucilla sp. (ZMA‐
POR 5381); D: Habitus of Gran@opsis cf. cylindrica.
addi<onal support for the choanocyte chambers. Tetrac<nes (much smaller than the cor<cal ones) are present in the artrial. The organiza<on of the aquiferous system is sylleibid.
Family: Lelapiidae Dendy & Row, 1913 Gran=opsis Dendy 1892
Gran=opsis cf. cylindrica Specimen: GW973
Locality: GBR, Australia, Lizard Island, Bommie Bay Cave
Individual tubes emerging from stolons (Fig. A3.1.3, D). The osculum is smaller than the diameter of the tube. The cortex consists of several layers of large triac<nes, which gives the tubes a smooth and glistening surface. The unpaired rays of subatrial tetrac<nes are associated with spicular tracts of several modified triac<nes with two strongly reduced rays (Chapter 3, Fig. 3.1, C).
The other unpaired ray of the subatrial tetrac<nes is bend and reaches into the atrium. The atrial skeleton consists of small tetrac<nes with the apical ray some<mes dagger shaped and also reach‐
ing into the atrium. The aquiferous system is sylleibid.
Two species have been described in Gran@opsis: G. cylindrica Dendy 1892 (with two varie<es) and G. heroni Wörheide and Hooper, 2003. An addi<onal variety of G. cylindrica –G. cylindrica var. fru‐
@cosa Dendy & Frederick 1924– was described from the Abrolhos Island, Western Australia. While G. heroni has an osculum of almost the size of the tube, the osculum is smaller in G. cylindrica and our specimen. Also, at least the specimens of G. heroni from the first descrip<on are syconoid (Wörheide and Hooper, 2003). Considering this and the descrip<on of Dendy and Frederick (1924), the examined specimen is most similar to G. cylindrica var. fru@cosa, because the typical G.
cylindrica specimen consisted of single tubes, while G. cylindrica var. fru@cosa is 'colonial, branched and bushy'. Addi<onally, the cortex in the typical G. cylindrica is thicker (about half of the thickness of the tube) than in G. cylindrica var. fru@cosa (one third of the thickness of the wall) (Dendy and Frederick, 1924). In our specimen the cortex is even less developed than described for G. cylindrica var. fru@cosa (ca. one quarter of the thickness of the tube). However, it is not known if this variability between the described species is caused by species boundaries or simply reflect the plas<city within a single Gran@opsis species.