| Demospongiae |
Haplosclerida |
Petrosiidae |
Neopetrosia proxima |
4 |
Previously placed under genus Xestospongia. Also known as Densa araminta de Laubenfels, 1934. Dark brown to tan (sometimes with greenish, purplish or pinkish tinges), thick, hard mats incrusted in the substratum, with scattered oscules. When cut and handled, it has a sticky texture. |
(Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864) |
green,brown,encrusting,hard |
| Demospongiae |
Haplosclerida |
Petrosiidae |
Neopetrosia rosariensis |
7 |
Previously placed under genus Xestospongia. In The western and northern Caribbean and the Bahamas, this species occurs as low, dark brown to black tubes, orten partly buried or with a basal mass widely filling crevices from which low tubes protrude. The surface may be riddled with holes. In the southern Caribbean it occurs as long, dark brown, smooth tubes, single or in groups. Spicules are oxea with ends a little rounded, 140-175 x 3.1-5 µm in the Bahamas. Crevice-filling specimens may be confused with Calyx podatypa (de Laubenfels, 1934) (pictured herein), which are brown, more crumbly, and have smaller and thinner spicules (92-122 x up to 2 µm. |
(Zea & Rützler, 1981) |
brown,black,tube,encrusting,massive,lobate,hard |
| Demospongiae |
Haplosclerida |
Petrosiidae |
Neopetrosia subtriangularis |
11 |
Previously placed in genus in Xestospongia. Hard, repent to erect tan branches with oscules aligned on top. In the Bahamas the branches are thicker (3-5 cm) than in other Caribbean areas (1-2 cm). |
(Duchassaing, 1850) |
cinnamon-tan,branching,hard |
| Demospongiae |
Haplosclerida |
Petrosiidae |
Petrosia (Petrosia) pellasarca |
4 |
Ear to fan-shaped, uniformly thick (ca. 1 cm), smooth, crumbly, reddish brown (pale in shaded parts). Can be confused with Cribrochalina vasculum (Lamarck, 1814), which is tougher and rather more elastic. Also, with Petrosia weinbergi, with which it shares a wide range size of oxea spicules, but lack the small toxa, is more crispy in consistency, and is greenish. |
(de Laubenfels, 1934) |
red,brown,cinnamon-tan,white,cream,fan,vase,crumbly |
| Demospongiae |
Haplosclerida |
Petrosiidae |
Petrosia (Petrosia) weinbergi |
12 |
Dark green ears partly or totally encrusted onto the substratum; hard and brittle, with a smooth but crusty surface; no oscules usually apparent. Can be confused with Petrosia pellasarca, which is brown, grows more off the substratum and is crumbly and has small toxa spicules in addition to the oxea in a wide size range that both share. There are deep reef cave-wall fully encrusting specimens with scattered, slightly elevated oscules, usually creamy but sometimes green, a bit more crumbly, with the same spicule complement and skeletal architecture. We are placing these tentatively within this species. |
van Soest, 1980 |
green,brown,cream,gray,encrusting,fan,massive,lobate,hard,crumbly |
| Demospongiae |
Haplosclerida |
Petrosiidae |
Petrosia (Strongylophora) davilai |
1 |
Dark brown, hard and thick encrustation with sprawling branching extensions. Originally described under genus Strongylophora, which now is considered a subgenus of Petrosia. Hence, the full name is Petrosia (Strongylophora) davilai. The megasclere spicules are small to large strongyles, and microscleres are microxea. There are also thin raphide like spicules which may be developmental stages of strongyles. It can be confused in the field with Petrosia weinbergi van Soest, 1980, which forms green to cream hard encrustations. |
(Alcolado, 1979) |
brown,branching,encrusting,hard |
| Demospongiae |
Haplosclerida |
Petrosiidae |
Petrosia (Strongylophora) sp.-crumbly round volcano |
1 |
A dark green-brown, crumbly, rounded volcano. Identification is tentative. It has strongyle spicules in variuos sizes, about 120 to 200 micrometers, which places it into Petrosia (Strongylophora). Ectosomal skeleton is a tangential irregular reticulation of single spicules. Internal skeleton as a ladder-like irregular unispicular reticulation. Spicules appear to be joined by spongin at the nodes; meshes are irregular because they are made up of spicules of different sizes. Spicules appear similar to Neopetrosia dominicana (Pulitzer-Finali, 1986) (originally placed under Xestospongia; not represented in this work; it has not been re-described after the original) but the external shape, the consistency and the skeleton seem to be different. We compared it to Petrosia (Strongylophora) davilai (Alcolado & Gotera, 1986), but the structure of the skeleton is different (reticulation of ascending and interconnecting multispicular tracts). |
|
green,brown,vase,crumbly |
| Demospongiae |
Haplosclerida |
Petrosiidae |
Xestospongia deweerdtae |
1 |
Pinkish to orange thick encrustations with volcano-shaped oscules. Consistency firmy compressible, crumbly. Spicules are perfect strongyles 325-400 x 10-20 µm arranged in the ectosome as a tangential unispicular reticulation, and in the choanosome as multispicular reticulation. |
Lehnert & van Soest, 1999 |
pink-lilac,orange,tube,massive,tough |
| Demospongiae |
Haplosclerida |
Petrosiidae |
Xestospongia muta |
16 |
Large barrels, golden to reddish brown. Surface rather smooth or with numerous irregular, finger-shaped, pyramidal or lamellated projections. Top usually thin-walled, usually with projections. Interior of atria rough, as a bubble-like pattern. Also knows as X. rampa (de Laubenfels, 1934). |
(Schmidt, 1870) |
yellow,brown,pink-lilac,cream,cinnamon-tan,tube,vase,crumbly,hard |
| Demospongiae |
Haplosclerida |
Petrosiidae |
Xestospongia sp.-thin pink sheet over Plakortis |
5 |
Thin lavender-pink, soft crust, found living over the sponge Plakortis halichondroides (Wilson, 1902). Oscules of P. halichondroides are free of Xestospongia sp. tissue; there are also numerous holes on the surface that may serve as inhalant areas for the lower sponge. Spicules are strongyles 170-260 x 2.5-6.3 µm, arranged in an unispicular isotropic reticulation. We initially thought it was X. deweerdtae Lehnert & van Soest, 1999 (also pictured here), but when we found the free living sponge it turned out to be different, with larger spicules. It should be compared to Haliclona strongylophora Lehnert & van Soest, 1996 (not included herein). |
|
pink-lilac,encrusting,soft,crumbly |
| Demospongiae |
Haplosclerida |
Petrosiidae |
Xestospongia sp.-whitish thick encrustation |
1 |
White to greenish, tough but crumbly encrustations with large oscula with transparent collars. Megasclere spicules are hastate oxea 350-450 x 7-10 µm arranged in an isotropic unispicular reticulation (both ectosomal and choanosomal, although the latter can be paucispicular). Owing to its large spicule size, it may fit into genus Xestospongia. However, it needs to be compared to Haliclona megasclera Lehnert & vanb Soest, 1996, which also has large oxea spicules. Also needs to be compared to Xestospongia arenosa van Soest & de Weerdt, 2001, which is also withish but usually lives buried in sediments. |
|
white,encrusting,crumbly |
