Cladocroce caelum sp. nov. from the Brazilian coast; first record of the genus in the South Atlantic.

Abstract

Haplosclerida is characterized by the possession of diactinal megascleres, most commonly oxeas in isodictyal arrangement. While the sizes of spicules may be an important characteristic to identify species the skeletal architecture serves to discriminate families and genera (van Soest & Hooper 2002). Cladocroce Topsent, 1892 is characterized by the presence of multispicular fibres tracts with a rather dense subisotropic reticulation in between (De Weerdt 2002), currently with 15 valid species (van Soest et al. 2013), only three of which are from the Atlantic Ocean, and none from the South Atlantic. Here we are record a new species of Cladocroce for Brazil for the first time. Specimens were collected during a faunistic survey conducted in the area of Enseada dos Corais Beach (Pernambuco State, Brazil) and Baía da Traição (Paraíba State, Brazil). The present contribution takes the number of valid described species of Cladocroce to 16.