Abstract
Due to the possession of huge contort strongyles, and a lack of triaenes in an otherwise ‘astrophorine’ spicule complement, the phylogenetic position of the endemic, monospecific New Zealand sponge genus, Lamellomorpha Bergquist, 1968, has remained enigmatic. The genus was established within Jaspidae de Laubenfels, 1968 (in the abandoned order Epipolasida Sollas, 1888), but it was not until 2002 that the genus was transferred formally to Astrophorina Sollas, 1887, albeit incertae sedis, by Hooper & Maldonado (2002). In this study, we recognise specimens of Lamellomorpha from the Subantarctic New Zealand region and Chatham Rise, considered by Bergquist to be conspecific with the type species, L. strongylata Bergquist, 1968, first described from the Three Kings-Spirits Bay region of Northland, as the new species, L. australis Kelly & Cárdenas sp. nov. These two species of Lamellomorpha have differences in external morphology and colour, skeletal architecture and spicules, natural products, geographical distribution, and depth ranges. Sequencing of the COI Folmer barcode/mini-barcode and of 28S (C1–C2 domains) of these two species suggests phylogenetic affinities of Lamellomorpha with the tetractinellid suborder Astrophorina and the family Vulcanellidae Cárdenas et al., 2011. Two Subantarctic New Zealand species of the vulcanellid genus Poecillastra Sollas, 1888, P. ducitriaena Kelly & Cárdenas sp. nov. and P. macquariensis Kelly & Cárdenas sp. nov., provide further support for the close relationship of Lamellomorpha and Poecillastra.
Highlights
Lamellomorpha strongylata Bergquist, 1968 was first described from the Three Kings Islands to the north of New Zealand and recently recollected by the National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research (NIWA) and the Coral Reef Research Foundation, Republic of Palau (CRRF) from Middlesex Bank to the north of Three Kings Islands and Spirits Bay on the northern tip of the North Island
While the specimens have not been relocated within the NIWA Invertebrate Collection (NIC), a recent opportunity to examine older material in NIC revealed a surprising number of the ‘southern form’ of L. strongylata Bergquist, 1968 from Bounty Platform (NZOI Station A751, 155 m depth), Solander Trough, Campbell Platform, and Macquarie Ridge, all in the Subantarctic New Zealand region, and Mernoo Bank on Chatham Rise, to the east of the South Island
One specimen from the Snares Island Platform was of great interest as it had rare calthrop-like triaenes amongst what appeared to be a spicule complement almost identical to that of L. strongylata, suggesting a relationship with calthrop-containing tetractinellid species, such as in families Calthropellidae Lendenfeld, 1907 or Pachastrellidae Carter, 1875
Summary
In the original description, Bergquist (1968) included two specimens from the Campbell Plateau in the Subantarctic New Zealand region (New Zealand Oceanographic Institute (NZOI) Stations B176 and B184, 84 m and 188 m depth, respectively) and considered these to be the same species. While the specimens have not been relocated within the NIWA Invertebrate Collection (NIC), a recent opportunity to examine older material in NIC revealed a surprising number of the ‘southern form’ of L. strongylata Bergquist, 1968 from Bounty Platform (NZOI Station A751, 155 m depth), Solander Trough, Campbell Platform, and Macquarie Ridge, all in the Subantarctic New Zealand region, and Mernoo Bank on Chatham Rise, to the east of the South Island. Bergquist stated that “L. strongylata would be a typical Jaspis were it not for the completely different microsclere content of microstrongyles and streptasters”, which she likened to those in Triptolemma simplex (Sarà, 1959) in the Pachastrellidae
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