A new species of Sphinctrella (Demospongiae: Astrophorida) and remarks on the status of the genus in the Mediterranean
Maldonado, M.; Uriz, M.-J. (1996). A new species of Sphinctrella (Demospongiae: Astrophorida) and remarks on the status of the genus in the Mediterranean. Bull. Kon. Belg. Inst. Natuurwet. Biologie 66(Suppl.): 175-184 In: Bulletin van het Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut voor Natuurwetenschappen. Biologie = Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique. Biologie. Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut voor Natuurwetenschappen: Bruxelles. ISSN 0374-6429, more Also appears in:Willenz, Ph. (1996). Recent advances in sponge biodiversity inventory and documentation: Proceedings of the 10th Workshop on Atlanto-Mediterranean Sponge Taxonomy, Brussels, April 25-30, 1995. Bulletin van het Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut voor Natuurwetenschappen. Biologie = Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique. Biologie, 66(Suppl.). Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut voor Natuurwetenschappen: Brussel. 242 pp., more | |
Abstract | We describe in this study a new Mediterranean species of the genus Sphinctrella Schmidt. Sphinctrella aberrans sp. nov. is characterized by the presence of malformed ortho-plagiotriaenes and pseudocalthrops, a category of spirasters with a very thick central axis, microxeas with attenuate ringed ornamentation, and a very fine, pore-like fenestration of the ectosome of the exhalant sieves. Apart from S. aberrans, three other species of Sphinctrella are known from the Mediterranean according to the literature: Sphinctrella gracilis Sollas, Sphinctrella horrida Schmidt and Sphinctrella verrucolosa Pulitzer-Finali. However, the re-examination of the single Mediterranean individual claimed to be S. horrida made evident that this specimen was misidentified and the species actually does not exist in the Mediterranean. |
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