Tsitsikamma Samaai & Kelly 2002

Subgenus Tsitsikamma Samaai & Kelly, 2002 Type species. Tsitsikamma favus Samaai and Kelly, 2002: 718; fig. 6A–G. Diagnosis. Tsitsikamma species that are thickly encrusting to hemispherical attached to the substratum through a common base; have a rigid, thick honeycomb chamber like choanosome reinforced by very large, thick anisostyles. The isochiadiscorhabd microscleres are large, having a thick shaft and three sets of cylindrical-conical tubercles protruding from the shaft. Remarks. We herewith establish the nominotypical subgenus Tsitsikamma subgen. nov. Samaai and Kelly, 2002, for the species T. favus, T. scurra, T. nguni Parker-Nance, 2019 and T. amatholensis sp. nov., based on the possession of dense megasclere tracts that form a rigid, honeycomb-like structure, with chambers visible to the unaided eye.
Published as part of Samaai, Toufiek, Kelly, Michelle, Ngwakum, Benedicta, Payne, Robyn, Teske, Peter R., Janson, Liesl, Kerwath, Sven, Parker, Denham & Gibbons, Mark J., 2020, New Latrunculiidae (Demospongiae, Poecilosclerida) from the Agulhas ecoregion of temperate southern Africa, pp. 409-442 in Zootaxa 4896 (3) on page 417, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4896.3.4, http://zenodo.org/record/4390683
{"references":["Samaai, T. & Kelly, M. (2002) Family Latrunculiidae Topsent, 1922. In: Hooper, J. N. A. & Van Soest, R. W. M. (Eds.), Systema Porifera. A guide to the classification of sponges. Vol. 1. Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers, New York, Boston, Dordrecht, London and Moscow, pp. 708 - 720. https: // doi. org / 10.1007 / 978 - 1 - 4615 - 0747 - 5 _ 78"]}