Desmacella annexa Schmidt 1870
- Dataset
- Desmacella Schmidt, 1870 from Brazil: Description of two new species and a review of records (Desmacellida: Demospongiae: Porifera)
- Rank
- SPECIES
Classification
- kingdom
- Animalia
- phylum
- Porifera
- class
- Demospongiae
- order
- Poecilosclerida
- family
- Desmacellidae
- genus
- Desmacella
- species
- Desmacella annexa
discussion
Remarks. Van Soest & Stentoft (1988) described the typical morphology of D. annexa. The species’ spicules consist of tylostyles, two categories of sigmas and toxiform microxeas. Here, we provide for the first time illustrations using scanning electron microscopy of D. annexa, the microspination of its sigmas and toxiform microxeas. The presence of microspination on microscleres is also observed in other species of Desmacella such as D. austini Lehnert et al. (2005, from the Pacific coast of Canada) (Lehnert et al. 2005) and Desmacella aff. pumilio (from Campos Basin, Brazil) (Cosme & Hajdu 2010). Desmacella austini has microspines on the tips of its two categories of sigmas, while Desmacella aff. pumilio has microspines on the tips of one category of sigma. We believe that this new feature probably occur in other populations of D. annexa, however this hypothesis can be confirmed only with SEM images. Records biogeographically akin to the Floridian type locality, such as the Brazilian ones (see Hajdu et al. 2004), are likely conspecific. Nevertheless, the other more disjunct records need to be reviewed with great care.
Name
- Homonyms
- Desmacella annexa Schmidt 1870