Michelle Kelly

Publications (3)5.13 Total impact

• Article: Cymbastela sodwaniensis sp. nov. (Halichondrida: Axinellidae): a first record of this sponge genus in South Africa

  Toufiek Samaai, Ruwen Pillay, Michelle Kelly
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  ABSTRACT: Cymbastela sodwaniensis sp. nov. (order Halichondrida: family Axinellidae) is described from the subtropical waters of Sodwana Bay on the north-east coast of South Africa. The genus was previously unknown from southern Africa or the western and eastern parts of the Indian Ocean. This record represents the westernmost extent of this predominantly Indo-Pacific to Australasian genus. This new species record brings the number of Cymbastela species described to a total of nine.
  Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK 11/2009; 89(08):1679 - 1687. · 1.00 Impact Factor
• Article: A revision of the genus Strongylodesma Lévi (Porifera: Demospongiae: Latrunculiidae) with descriptions of four new species

  Toufiek Samaai, Mark J. Gibbons, Michelle Kelly
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  ABSTRACT: The sponge genus Strongylodesma is reviewed and redefined, and now accommodates eight closely related species. The type species of Strongylodesma Lévi is redescribed and an additional two new species are described from the Indo-Pacific: S. novaecaledoniae sp. nov. and S. tongaensis sp. nov. Several specimens previously identified as species of Batzella (Poecilosclerida: Chondropsidae) have been re-assigned to Strongylodesma, as the new species S. purpureus sp. nov. and S. nigra sp. nov. With the description here of new species from the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Atlantic, the biogeographical distribution of Strongylodesma now appears to be generally tropical with a subtropical South African component, whereas previously it was only known from South Africa. Although species of Strongylodesma have not previously been recorded from the intermediate locations (Western Indian Ocean, South-east Asia, central west Pacific, and New Zealand), re-evaluation here will facilitate more readily the recognition of taxa in these intermediate regions, if they exist, in the future. The species are not widespread, except perhaps along the south-east coast of South Africa, and where they occur they are not abundant. Species occur over a wide depth range, from the intertidal in Tsitsikamma, South Africa, to 140 m in the Caribbean.
  Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK 11/2009; 89(08):1689 - 1702. · 1.00 Impact Factor
• Article: Cytotoxic pyrroloiminoquinones from four new species of South African latrunculid sponges.

  Edith M Antunes, Denzil R Beukes, Michelle Kelly, Toufiek Samaai, Louis R Barrows, Kathryn M Marshall, Catherine Sincich, Michael T Davies-Coleman
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  ABSTRACT: An examination of organic extracts of four new species of South African latrunculid sponges, Tsitsikamma pedunculata, T. favus, Latrunculia bellae, and Strongylodesma algoaensis, yielded 13 known and eight new pyrroloiminoquinone alkaloids, 3-dihydro-7,8-dehydrodiscorhabdin C (4), 14-bromo-3-dihydro-7,8-dehydrodiscorhabdin C (5), discorhabdin V (6), 14-bromo-1-hydroxydiscorhabdin V (7), tsitsikammamine A N-18 oxime (10), tsitsikammamine B N-18 oxime (11), 1-methoxydiscorhabdin D (12), and 1-aminodiscorhabdin D (13). Standard spectroscopic methods provided the structures of the pyrroloiminoquinone metabolites, while chiral GC-MS analysis of the acylated ozonolysis products of 21 confirmed the stereochemistry of the l-histidine residue in this compound. The anticancer activity of 20 pyrroloiminoquinone compounds was explored in the HCT-116 cancer cell line screen, and the DNA intercalation of the tsitsikammamines, together with their ability to cleave DNA through topoisomerase I inhibition, is discussed.
  Journal of Natural Products 09/2004; 67(8):1268-76. · 3.13 Impact Factor