Rare freshwater sponges of Australasia: new record of Umborotula bogorensis (Porifera: Spongillida: Spongillidae) from the Sakaerat Biosphere Reserve in Northeast Thailand

Abstract

Umborotula bogorensis (Weber, 1890) is a freshwater sponge species that is recorded occasionally, mainly on islands and peninsulas of Australasia. Less than 10 records with morphological descriptions and illustrations have been published so far, and the most recent record is dated 1978. A list of the few voucher specimens from museum collections is provided here together with the rich unpublished Sasaki collection from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, recently deposited in a Japanese museum. The present new record from Northeast Thailand enlarges the geographic range of U. bogorensis to the Indochina mainland. A comparison of historical data vs present Thai records is performed by morpho-analysis (SEM) as well as biogeographic, ecological and climatic data. Results show low variability in shape and size of the diagnostic morphotraits in populations scattered over the wide geographic range. Here we also formally accept the new taxonomic status (rank elevation) of the previous suborder Spongillina as a new order Spongillida. The presence of this potentially threatened species in the Sakaerat Biosphere Reserve, together with its possible long-term persistence in the Bogor Botanical Garden, may support its conservation. Only a census of the known, extremely scattered populations will define the status of this species.

Aquatic Insects in Habitat-Forming Sponges: The Case of the Lower Mekong and Conservation Perspectives in a Global Context

“…The results of this study expand our knowledge of freshwater sponges in Southeast Asia, which is considered a biodiversity hotspot, highlighted by the 3007 new species of vascular plants, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals discovered in the Greater Mekong region between 2007 and 2020 [105,106]. The description of three new Spongillida species and a new record in Thailand and Vietnam [20,28,107,108], and ongoing discoveries in Thailand (Ruengsawang unpublished data), indicate that the sponges inhabiting rivers, lakes, and wetlands in this region remain unexplored and are underestimated in their biodiversity. Environmental impacts on freshwater sponges have been reported, i.e., temperature, heavy metal contamination [109], and habitat change, as one of biodiversity loss drivers in Southeast Asia [110].…”

Trends and Gaps in Scientific Production on Freshwater Sponges

“…In relation to the discovery of new species, new records continue to occur in other parts of the world, as in the United States of America (Peterson & Addis 2000, Annesley et al 2008, Copeland et al 2015; in Southeast Asia (Lim & Tan 2013, Manconi et al 2012 and in the African continent , in Venezuela (Quintero et al 2017) and in Northeast Australasia (Ruengsawang et al 2017). Despite these records, continental sponges are poorly explored in these parts of the planet, evidencing a gap to this area of knowledge.…”