Bulletin 20 - Peabody Museum of Natural History - Yale University

40 A SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF THE DEMOSPONGIAE OF JAMAICA
In spiculation, my specimen agrees well with Topsent's Guadeloupe sponge, and,
except for sigma size, with Carter's type. The various specimens attributed to the species
exhibit a wide range of spicule sizes. The reported variations cannot be correlated with
distribution. For example, wide extremes of microsclere size have been reported for both
West Indian and Mediterranean specimens. Sponges from the East Coast of the United
States do form a rather homogeneous group, characterized by small chelas and large
sigmas (as compared with the known ranges for the species). They also have peculiar,
contractile, pore-bearing dermal papillae. Hartman (1958) has referred to them as the
carolinensis type, and they could be considered as a separate subspecies.
Lissodendoryx similis Thiele has spicules similar in size to those of L. isodictyalis.
Thiele emphasized the presence of chelas with round rather than pointed ends in his
species definition. Topsent (1925a, 1936) concluded that chela shape was a variable characteristic
within L. isodictyalis.
Lissodendoryx jacksoniana (Lendenfeld, 1888), as redescribed by Hallmann (1914),
differs sufficiently from L. isodictyalis to warrant its retention as a separate species. Its
endosomal skeleton includes small strongyles in addition to the usual styles. Burton
(1936b) has reported it from South Africa as L. isodictyalis jacksoniana.
The poorly known Lissodendoryx isodictyalis paucispinosa Topsent is similar in
spicule sizes to Carter's species. It approaches the myxillid condition with varying degrees
of spination on the base and even the shaft of the styles.
GENUS ACANTHACARNUS Levi
Acanthacarnus souriei Levi
Acanthacarnus souriei Levi, 1952, p. 54 [type: Senegal; repository not specified]; idem,
1959, p. 132; Vacelet, 1961, p. 42.
Acanthacarnus levii Vacelet, 1960, p. 267 (fide Vacelet, 1961.)
HABITAT. The single example was collected at Drunkenman's Cay.
SHAPE. A very thin film, in crevices of a coral rock.
COLOR. Bright red-orange.
CONSISTENCY. TOO thin to determine.
SURFACE. Smooth to the touch, even. No oscules are apparent.
ECTOSOME. The dermal tylotes are thickly strewn at the surface. Toxas and chelas are
abundant.
ENDOSOME. The shape of the specimen made sectioning difficult. A few bundles of
styles, about 30 fx in diameter, could be seen. They are obliquely echinated by cladotylotes
and acanthostyles. The cladome end of the cladotylotes and the apices of the
acanthostyles are directed outward from the spicule bundles.
SPICULES, (a) Dermal tylotes, straight, heads usually microspined, 119-357 X 3-7 /x (50
spicules), (b) Endosomal styles, often subtylostylote, slightly curved, 240-381 X 3-5 xi
(30 spicules). Their bases are slightly swollen and roughened, or irregularly shaped.
(c) Cladotylotes (rose-stem spicules), straight to slightly curved, 70-205 x 3-5 /x (60 spicules).
One end has four well-developed recurved clads. The other end may have short
irregularly oriented clads or lumpy projections. The stem bears numerous thorn-like
spines, which usually point away from the cladome. (d) Echinating acanthostyles, thin,
straight, finely and entirely spined, 68-104 x 3-5 ^ (30 spicules), (e) Palmate isochelas,
17-21 X 2 /a (50 spicules), (f) Toxas, varied in shape, 50 X 2 to 330 X less than 2 /x.
The more elongate toxas are thin, with a short, shallow central arch. The smaller ones
are thick and strongly arched.
DISTRIBUTION. Mediterranean-Atlantic: Corsica—Vacelet, 1960, p. 267 (as Acanthacarnus
levii); Vacelet, 1961, p. 42.
Tropical West Africa: Senegal—Levi, 1952, p. 54; Gulf of Guinea—Levi, 1959, p. 132.
DISCUSSION. The Jamaican specimen is the first West Indian record of the species. My
specimen agrees closely with the West African examples.