New shallow-water sponges (Porifera) from the Galápagos Islands

Abstract

Twenty-five new species of shallow-water sponges are described from the Galápagos Islands, a province of Ecuador in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Sponges were photographed in situ and collected by SCUBA divers between 2001 and 2004. New species include: Acanthancora equiformis sp. nov., Acanthella saladinorum sp. nov., Cacospongia hermanorum sp. nov., Cinachyrella solis sp. nov., Ciocalypta bustamanti sp. nov., Clathria (Microciona) stellata sp. nov., Clathrina andreusi sp. nov., Craniella lissi sp. nov., Dragmacidon raeae sp. nov., Dragmacidon hendersoni sp. nov., Haliclona (Haliclona) clairae sp. nov., Haliclona (Haliclona) dianae sp. nov., Haliclona (Reniera) oberi sp. nov., Haliclona (Soestella) spuma sp. nov., Haliclona (Soestella) roslynae sp. nov., Hemimycale harlequinus sp. nov., Hemimycale nathani sp. nov., Higginsia johannae sp. nov., Neopetrosia eructans sp. nov., Leucilla agitata sp. nov., Penares angeli sp. nov., Prosuberites vansoesti sp. nov., Suberea esmerelda sp. nov., Tethya annona sp. nov. and Tethya sorbetus sp. nov. In addition, three species have been recorded for the first time from the Galápagos Islands: Chalinula cf. molitba (De Laubenfels, 1949), Chelonaplysilla violacea (Von Lendenfeld, 1883) and Tedania (Tedania) tropicalis Aguilar-Camacho, Carballo & Cruz-Barraza, 2018. This paper represents a significant contribution to our knowledge of the Porifera of the Galápagos Islands.

Diving into the unknown: fourteen new species of haplosclerid sponges (Demospongiae: Haplosclerida) revealed along the Peruvian coast (Southeastern Pacific)

“…nov. Haliclona (Halicl.) dianae is reddish pink in colour with a regular anisotropic reticulation of uni-to paucispicular primary lines (Sim-Smith et al 2021), such an arrangement is distinct from the dense, slightly confused and isotropic reticulation present in the new species. In its turn, H. rapanui has a thickly encrusting habit, 19 mm thick, hispid surface, and lacks an ectosome (Desqueyroux-Faúndez 1990), whilst H.…”

“…nov. is quite unlike the species described as C. cf. molitba from Galápagos (Sim-Smith et al 2021). The latter has a lilac colour alive and a mainly isotropic reticulation of spongin fibres cored by oxeas that are slightly smaller (103-113-129 µm) than in C. chelysa sp.…”

“…gellindra differs by its pale-lavender colour, in addition to rare and irregular oscula (de Laubenfels 1932). In its turn, H. (S.) spuma has a subanisotropic reticulation of multispicular primary lines and pauci-to multispicular secondary lines and is thicker, 5-20 mm, than the new species (Sim-Smith et al 2021). Diagnosis.…”

“…It is important to highlight that when Sim-Smith et al (2021) questioned the presence of C. nematifera in the Eastern Pacific, they inadvertently missed the description provided in Cruz- Barraza & Carballo (2008). These latter authors sustained the identity of their specimens as C. nematifera based on similar dimensions of oxeas, similar skeletal features, presence of mucous and presence of the characteristic white threads in the surface of some specimens.…”

“…Few haplosclerids have been described from the entire Eastern Pacific, especially from the Warm-Temperate Southeastern Pacific (WTSP), Juan Fernandez and Desventuradas and Tropical East Pacific (TEP) provinces. The main taxonomic studies dealing, though not exclusively, with haplosclerids from this area include Thiele (1905), de Laubenfels (1932), Dickinson (1945), Ristau (1978), Desqueyroux-Faúndez & van Soest (1997), Cruz-Barraza & Carballo (2008), Hajdu et al (2013) and Sim-Smith et al (2021). Within the framework of projects ESPER (DGD, Belgium) and EsponjAS (CNPq, Brazil), we obtained a large number of haplosclerids from the Peruvian coast, an area where not a single species of this order had been registered up to now.…”