Tetilla leptoderma Sollas 1886

Tetilla leptoderma Sollas, 1886

(Fig. 3 A)

Tetilla leptoderma Sollas, 1886: 179. Sollas 1888: 3, pl. 1, figs. 1–15. Burton 1929: 418. Koltun 1976: 166. Boury-Esnault and van Beveren (1982): 24–27, figs. 5, 6. Desqueyroux & Moyano 1987: 47. Desqueyroux-Faúndez 1989: 102, pl. 1, figs. 1a– d, pl. 5, figs. 26–28. Sarà et al. 1990: 252. Barthel et al. 1990: 122, 1997: 47. Gutt and Koltun 1995: 230. Cattaneo-Vietti et al. 1999: 540.

Synonymy:

Craniella leptoderma (Sollas, 1886): Kirkpatrick 1908: 4–6, pl. 11, figs. 4–14. Campos et al. 2007a: 692–694, figs. 21–29, tab. 1.

Tethya stylifera Lendenfeld, 1907: 84 –87, pl. XVI, fig. 5–12.

Tetilla grandis Sollas, 1886: 180. Sollas 1888: 10, pl. 5, figs. 1, 2, 4–14. Lendenfeld 1903: 20, 1907: 69, pl. 15, figs. 10–18.

Tetilla grandis var. alba Sollas, 1886. Sollas 1888: 13, pl. 5, fig. 3. Lendenfeld 1903: 21.

Material. 7 specimens from station 048-1 (SMF 11760–11763), 602.1 m, 70° 23.94' S, 8° 19.14' W, 12.01.2008.

Description. Specimens globular, mainly fragmentary sponges with diameters 0.5 to 10 cm. Surface smooth. Very firm. Two specimens encrusting on Haliclona (Gellius) cf. flabelliformis (Ridley & Dendy, 1886) (see Fig. 19 A). Spicules oxeas of up to about 4000 µm in length. Triaenes concentrated in the ectosome, up to 6000 µm long. Sigmaspires 10 to 20 µm length, very abundant within the tissue.

Remarks. The characters of the Tetillidae sampled during SYSTCO I expedition correspond well to the very detailed descriptions by Sollas (1888) and Boury-Esnault and van Beveren (1982). The species is one of the most common sponges on the Antarctic shelf and has a wide distribution area, covering wide areas of the Southern Ocean, including areas in Argentina, Kerguelen and New Zealand (Van Soest et al. 2012a). By attributing the species to the genus Tetilla we follow the World Porifera Database (Van Soest et al. 2012a).