Tedania brasiliensis new species (Demospongiae, Poecilosclerida, Tedaniidae) from Brazil, with some remarks about the genus Tedania in the tropical southwestern Atlantic

Tedania brasiliensis n. sp. is described from widely disjunct localities al ong the Brazilian coast, distributed from ca 00 degrees 30'to ca 24 degrees 00S, and from 3 to 54 m in depth. The species is distinguished from its cl osest relative in the tropical Western Atlantic, T ignis (Duchassaing and M ichelotti, 1864), by the possession of strongyles as the sole choanosomal m egascleres, pinkish-nd live-color, and notorious anti-yeast properties. No dermatitis is known yet from contact with the new species. Other records of the genus from the Brazilian coast are reviewed, and citations of T. anhel ans (Lieberkuhn, 1859) and T. vanhoeffeni Hentschel, 1914, are all transfer red to T. ignis. We tentatively assign the record of T. murdochi Topsent, 1 904, to T. mucosa Thiele, 1905, but suggest the retention of T. biraphidora (Boury-Esnault, 1973) as a valid species, distinct from T. patagonica Ridl ey and Dendy, 1886, in contrast to suggestions made in recent literature.