Axinella antarctica Koltun 1964

Axinella antarctica (Koltun, 1964)

(Fig. 10 D)

Axinella antarctica (Koltun, 1964): Koltun 1976: 190, figs. 14, 15.

Synonymy:

Bubaris antarctica Koltun, 1964: 87, fig. 21.

Material. 1 specimen from station 048-1 (SMF 11835), 602.1 m, 70° 23.94' S, 8° 19.14' W, 12.01.2008.

Description. Sponge a small, fragmentary specimen, about 1 cm in diameter; cavernous. Type of growth unsure, either encrusting or rather massive. Surface made of echinating paratangential spicules, skeleton consisting of long, probably branching tracts of styles and irregular vermiculate oxeas to strongyles, lateral to the tracts single spicules attached. Spicules large styles, in which blunt end sometimes bent, 890–2075 µm x 25–35 µm. Additional spicules irregular twisted, vermiculate oxeas, which often bear blunt ends, resembling strongyles.

Remarks. In summary, the reported characters are in well accordance with those described for A. antarctica by Koltun (1964). Based on our material, which is nonetheless insufficient for a thorough taxonomic analysis, as well as from the original description, the reassignment (Koltun 1976) of the species from Bubaris Gray, 1867 to Axinella seems questionable, because of the higher accordance of the species with the current definition of Bubaris (Alvarez & Van Soest 2002) than with that of Axinella (Alvarez & Hooper 2002).