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Amorphinopsis (Halichondrida: Demospongiae) from the Atlantic Ocean, with the description of a new species

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 October 2004

Mariana de S. Carvalho
Affiliation:
Museu Nacional, Departamento de Invertebrados, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Quinta da Boa Vista, s/n, 20940-040, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
Eduardo Hajdu
Affiliation:
Museu Nacional, Departamento de Invertebrados, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Quinta da Boa Vista, s/n, 20940-040, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil Centro de Biologia Marinha, Universidade de São Paulo, São Sebastião, SP, Brazil
Beatriz Mothes
Affiliation:
Museu de Ciências Naturais, Fundação Zoobotânica do Rio Grande do Sul, Cx. Postal 1188, 90001-970, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
Rob W.M. van Soest
Affiliation:
Institute for Systematics and Population Biology (Zoölogisch Museum), University of Amsterdam, PO Box 94766,1090 GT Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Abstract

A species of the genus Amorphinopsis is described for the first time for the Atlantic Ocean. The new species was described based on the study of 25 specimens, collected in the area of the São Sebastião Channel and its environs (northern sector of São Paulo State coastline) and in the Cabo Frio region (Rio de Janeiro State). The form is massive cushion-shaped, lobate, occasionally encrusting. The megascleres are styles [160–260 (N=20)/5–10 (N=10) μm; length/thickness] and oxeas [150–900 (N=100)/5–18 (N=20) μm]. Amorphinopsis atlantica sp. nov. differs from the other species of Amorphinopsis by its colour, dark-greyish-green with or without yellow tinges on the exposed surface, and the smaller size of its oxeas. Amorphinopsis excavans is the closest species to the Brazilian material, but can still be set apart by a series of smaller traits, such as oxeas and styles never overlapping (the smaller oxea is always larger than the larger style).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2004 Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

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