Morphological and molecular systematics of the ‘Cliona viridiscomplex’ from south-eastern Brazil

Abstract

Bioeroding sponges of theCliona viridisspecies complex play a large role in carbonate cycling and reef health. In the present study we provide the first record and a description of a Mediterranean lineage ofC. viridis(Schmidt, 1862) in the south-western Atlantic. Specimens were collected in Maricás Archipelago, Rio de Janeiro State in September 2010 by scuba diving at 10–12 m depth and deposited in the Porifera collection of Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Morphologically, the specimens presently examined are very similar to those described in the beta and gamma growth form from the Mediterranean. The Brazilian and Mediterranean specimens share large and irregular papillae over 2 cm in diameter, megasclere tylostyles up to 500 µm long and microsclere spirasters with up to five twists and 34 µm long. A Maximum Likelihood analysis of 28S rDNA ofC. viridis, C. aprica, C. jullieni, C. schmidtiandC. varianswas performed for a genetic identification of the Brazilian specimens. The Brazilian material is phylogenetically closer to the MediterraneanC. viridisthan to the Caribbean and Indian Ocean members of this species complex included in the present analysis. Our results suggest thatC. viridisis a cryptogenic species with a distribution extending from the Mediterranean to the eastern Atlantic and in the SE Brazilian coast or further.

Long‐term temporal and spatial patterns in bioeroding sponge distribution at the Abrolhos Bank, Brazil, Southwestern Atlantic

“…In Brazil, Cliona was the most diverse genus of bioeroding sponges (8 spp. ; Muricy et al, ; Leal, de Paula, Lôbo‐Hajdu, Schönberg, & Esteves, ), but only three species of this genus were recorded in the present study.…”

“…Triangle ( 2011; Leal, de Paula, Lôbo-Hajdu, Schönberg, & Esteves, 2015), but only three species of this genus were recorded in the present study. studies have addressed the interaction between coral and bioeroding sponges, although CCA have been described as substrate for these bioeroders (López-Victoria, Zea, & Weil, 2006;Schönberg, 2015).…”

Sponges from rhodolith beds surrounding Ustica Island marine protected area (southern Tyrrhenian Sea), with a comprehensive inventory of the island sponge fauna

“…The present list reports the occurrence of Cliona copiosa, though it is considered synonymous to C. vir idis by Rosell and Uriz (2002). Indeed, the so called "C. viridis complex" (Schönberg 2002, Leal et al 2016 includes many different morphotypes that had been previously considered different species (Sarà 1959(Sarà , 1961. However, Barbieri et al (2008) have already pointed out the presence of morphometric, ecological and genetic differences between morphotypes living sympatrically on rocky shores of the Ligurian Sea, suggesting the occurrence of at least two different species within the generally accepted "C. viridis complex".…”

Integrative taxonomy and biogeographic affinities of the first freshwater sponge and mollusc association discovered in tropical Asia

“…S2 and Alignment S2). For the dataset 1, 68 additional 28S haplotypes were collected from published sources using GenBank (Borchiellini et al, 2004;Erpenbeck et al, 2011;Gazave et al, 2010;Idan et al, 2018;Leal et al, 2016;Morrow et al, 2012Morrow et al, , 2019Nichols, 2005;Plotkin et al, 2017;Redmond et al, 2011;Thacker et al, 2013;Wiens et al, 2009;Zhou et al, 2019) (Table S1). In its turn, altogether 137 additional haplotype sequences were sampled from GenBank for the nuclear dataset 2 (Addis & Peterson, 2005;Bukshuk & Maikova, 2020;Itskovich et al, 2008Itskovich et al, , 2013Itskovich et al, , 2017Karlep et al, 2013;Maikova et al, 2010;Sokolova et al, 2020;Wiens et al, 2009) (Table S2).…”