A Second Collection of Marine Demospongiae From Mahe Island In The Seychelles Bank (Indian Ocean)

About this book

The present account deals with a second collection of sponges made from Mahe Island in the Seychelles Bank by a Zoological Expedition organized by the Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, Belgium and the Université Libre de Bruxelles, during the year 1972. The present collection came exactly from the same area as that of the former (see Thomas, 1973) and hence the details regarding the environmental conditions, centres of collection, etc., are not included in the present report.

The present collection, though not extensive when compared with the previous one, contained 58 species, one subspecies and a variety of marine Demospongiae belonging to 47 genera divided among 28 families (table 1). Three species viz. Myxilla seychellensis, Rhaphidectyon encrusta and Axinella minor are new to science. Five species could be identified only upto generic level. Species belonging to the order Carnosida of the Class Demospongiae are not represented in the present collection, so also those of the classes Hyalospongiae and Calcispongiae.

Of a total of 60 species, subspecies and variety of Demospongiae represented in the present collection, 29 are common to both the collections from Mahe Island, and as descriptive accounts of these species already exist (Thomas, 1973) only those which are recorded as new to this island are dealt with in detail in the part dealing with systematics. And in the case of those previously reported, only the names of species are given and interesting points, if any, are discussed under the title "remarks".

A list of species hitherto known from Mahe Island is given along with this account as an appendix. The other species recorded previously from the Seychelles Bank in general, are listed in the earlier account.

Specimens, including the Types, are deposited in the Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, Belgium, registered under the numbers referred to in the text.

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