A new species of the sponge Raspailia (Raspaxilla) (Porifera: Demospongiae: Axinellida: Raspailiidae) from deep seamounts of the Western Pacific

Ekins, Merrick; Debitus, Cecile; Erpenbeck, Dirk and Hooper, John N. A. (2018): A new species of the sponge Raspailia (Raspaxilla) (Porifera: Demospongiae: Axinellida: Raspailiidae) from deep seamounts of the Western Pacific. In: Zootaxa, Vol. 4410, No. 2: pp. 379-386

Abstract

A new species of Raspailia (Raspaxilla) frondosa sp. nov. is described from the deep seamounts of the Norfolk and New Caledonia Ridges. The morphology of the species resembles that of a frond or a fern, and its unique highly compressed axial skeleton of interlaced spongin fibres without spicules in combination with a radial extra axial skeleton of a perpendicular palisade of spicules, differentiate it from all other species of the subgenus. This species is compared morphologically to all 18 other valid species described in Raspailia (Raspaxilla).

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Geosciences > Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
• Research Centers: GeoBio-Center
• Subjects: 500 Science > 550 Earth sciences and geology; 500 Science > 500 Science
• ISSN: 1175-5326
• Language: English