A new species of freshwater sponge (Porifera:Spongillidae) of the genus Radiospongilla from Lake Pedder in Tasmania

Abstract

is the home of a number of relictual organisms. One of those, a new species of freshwater sponge of the genus Radiospongilla, is described herein. Radiospongilla pedderensis sp. nov. occurs throughout most of the lake and often is found in very large numbers in many bays. Radiospongilla is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of all continents. The pneumatic layer of the gemmule contains numerous abnormal gemmoscleres a condition probably caused by the chemistry of the lake. The morphology and dimensions of the megascleres, gemmoscleres and aberrant gemmoscleres, as well as the location, structure and size of gemmules, are provided for R. pedderensis. The sponge is a bright green colour due to intracellular zoochlorellae. Their presence in local members of Radiospongilla has been the subject of considerable speculation but herein they are illustrated for the first time in an Australian species.

A note on five freshwater sponges (Porifera: Spongillina: Spongillidae) from Pune, Maharashtra, India

“…Manconi & Pronzato (2002) have summarised 15 species under this genus. Osborn et al (2008) have described a new species, Radiospongilla pedderensis from Pedder Lake, Tasmania. Six species have been reported from India: R. cantonensis (Gee, 1929); R. cinerea (Carter, 1849); R. crateriformis (Potts, 1882); R. hemephydatia (Annandale, 1909); R. indica (Annandale, 1907); and R. cerebellata (Annandale 1911;Penney & Racek 1968;Soota 1991;Manconi & Pronzato 2002).…”

New records of the sponge Radiospongilla inesi (Porifera: Spongilidae) and the slug Omalonyx matheroni (Gastropoda: Succineidae) in the Vale do Paraíba, southeast Brazil

“…The genus Radiospongilla Penney & Racek, 1968, present gemmoscleres radially arranged on gemmules and microscleres absents. This species is widely distributed over the world and recorded in all zoogeographical regions, except for Antarctica (Manconi & Pronzato, 2007;Osborn et al 2008). Along the 18 species described for the genus Radiospongilla, only three are recorded in the Neotropical Region, R. crateriformis (Potts, 1882), distributed in Mexico, United States, Suriname, Canada, Barbados, Cuba, Costa Rica, China and Japan (see Nicácio et al, 2011).…”

Biology, ecology and voltinism of the Australian spongillafly Sisyra pedderensis Smithers (Neuroptera: Sisyridae)

“…Osborn et al (2008) noted a large number of freshwater sponges encrusting the flooded timbers and shrubs in Starfish Inlet. On sampling these sponges, we discovered that they were preyed upon by larval spongillaflies but the depth of water (3-4 m) greatly restricted their collection here.…”

“…The lake has been managed as a reservoir by Hydro Tasmania since 1972 and when at full capacity holds 3.3 km³ of water. More detailed information on the formation of the present Lake Pedder may be found in Osborn et al (2008) and Forteath & Osborn (2012).…”

“…We identified the presence of the larvae of S. pedderensis in the lake when collecting freshwater sponges, Radiospongilla pedderensis Osborn, Forteath & Stanisic, 2008, during the winter of 1996 . Later, during summer surveys of the aquatic fauna within some sheltered bays, we found large numbers of spongillafly cocoons spun in a variety of habitats.…”