Neophrissospongia nana Manconi & Serusi 2008

Neophrissospongia nana is 'n sponsspesie in die taksonomiese indeling van die Demospongiae (gewone sponse). Die liggaam van die spons bestaan uit kieselnaalde en sponginevesels en is in staat om baie water op te neem.

Die spons behoort tot die genus Neophrissospongia en tot die familie Corallistidae. Die wetenskaplike naam van die spesie is die eerste keer geldig gepubliseer in 2008 deur Manconi & Serusi.

Neophrissospongia nana adalah spesies spons yang tergolong dalam kelas Demospongiae. Spesies ini juga merupakan bagian dari kelas Demospongiae, filum Porifera, subregnum Parazoa, dan kingdom Animalia.

Seperti spons pada umumnya, spesies ini memiliki tubuh yang berpori dan permukaan yang keras seperti batu. Selain itu, Neophrissospongia nana juga dapat menyerap oksigen dari air melalui proses difusi.

Known from a single specimen. Growth form as a large thick encrusting plate (10-12 x 5-7 cm) with a wide base adhering to the substrate and rounded margins. The sampled portion (holotype, 5 x 3.5 cm in width, ca. 1.2 cm in thickness) is one third of the entire living specimen. Colour white ice both in vivo and in spirit, except for a brown degenerated portion at the margin. Consistency stony, harder toward the basal portion. Surface even without asperities, aconulose. Ectosome with irregular sub-dermal canals. Inhalant apertures (0.2-1.2 mm in diameter) grouped in slight concavities along the sponge margins. Exhalant areas scattered on the top surface with grouped oscules (0.5-1 mm in diameter) each with a well-developed vertical atrial canal. Ectosomal skeleton armed by a layer of radially arranged dichotriaenes megascleres of two types. Dichotriaenes with cladomes (145-270 μm in diameter) bearing few tubercles (10-20 μm in height) rarely subdivided at the upper surface of protoclades (20-50 x 10-20 μm, usually 20-30 μm in length) and deuteroclades (50-100 x 10-20 μm, usually 50-70 μm in length). Deuteroclades sometime with branched tips. Rare dichotriaenes with entirely smooth cladomes (93-172 μm in diameter) and scarcely developed clades also present with no differential localization. Rhabdomes with blunt to acute tips (290-540 μm in length) usually smooth, sometimes bearing a few large acute spines or tubercles (up to 30 μm in length) along the axis. Extremely rare triaenes with a few tubercles on the clades also present. Other ectosomal spicules of two types, namely asterose and monaxial. Microscleres as streptaster/amphiaster with short spiny rays (5-15 μm in length) in a variable number (3-7) with blunt tips. Notably thin styles/sub-tylostyles (59-86 μm, < 3 μm in thickness) scattered and tangentially embedded in subectosomal membranes in both the inhalant and exhalant areas.
Architecture of the choanosomal skeleton as a loose network of slender dicranoclone desmas, strongly articulated along the canals of the aquiferous system. Desmas (280-360 μm) with rounded tubercles (5-35 μm in height, usually 10-15 μm) bearing smooth heads. Slender small young desmas with a smooth surface also present.

Type locality: Grotta delle Terrazze n. 2740 Catasto Speleologico Regionale (40°34’16”N 08°13’43”E), Punta Giglio Promontory, Alghero, NW Sardinia, 10.iv.2004, R. Barbieri coll. by SCUBA diving.
Material studied: Corallistes nolitangere Schmidt, 1870, p. 23, MNHN DT 781, Fayal, Campagne Prince Albert de Monaco Azores I, leg. E. Topsent, 1 slide; MOM 2144-0-04-0191, large specimen, collection E. Topsent, presumably Azores; AZR 71, collection G. Pulitzer-Finali, 4 slides, unknown locality of Azores.