Samaai, T.; Janson, L.; Kelly, M. (2012). New species of Latrunculia from the Agulhas shelf, South Africa, with designation of a type species for subgenus Biannulata (Demospongiae, Poecilosclerida, Latrunculiidae. Zootaxa. 3395: 33-45.
163865
Samaai, T.; Janson, L.; Kelly, M.
2012
New species of <i>Latrunculia</i> from the Agulhas shelf, South Africa, with designation of a type species for subgenus <i>Biannulata</i> (Demospongiae, Poecilosclerida, Latrunculiidae
Zootaxa
3395: 33-45
Publication
Available for editors
Three new species of Latrunculia are described from Algoa Bay, and Alphard and 45-Mile Banks, on the Agulhas continental shelf off the southern coast of South Africa. Latrunculia gotzi sp. nov., from Alphard Banks, forms a thick raised pad with broad, low, meandering areolate porefields that are characteristically lighter in colour than the surrounding mahogany brown ectosome. Latrunculia kerwathi sp. nov., from 45-Mile Banks, forms a thin, dark greenish brown encrustation, with very small, discrete, crater-shaped porefields. Latrunculia algoaensis sp. nov., from Algoa Bay, is a green hemisphere with relatively large, thick-lipped, circular areolate porefields. While the megascleres in these new species vary specifically in their dimensions, the former two species have small irregular spines on the styles. The anisodiscorhabds of the new species also vary specifically in dimensions and degree of ornamentation, but have an undifferentiated basal whorl and manubrium, with only median and subsidiary whorls around the shaft. These are identical in overall form to the anisodiscorhabds in several South African and New Zealand species currently recognised within the subgenus Latrunculia (Biannulata) Samaai et al., 2006, a group of 13 species for which no type species was ever assigned. A type species is designated herein.
