Twelve new Demospongiae (Porifera) from Chilean fjords, with remarks upon sponge-derived biogeographic compartments in the SE Pacific

Abstract

This article reports on 12 new species originating from the Chilean fjords region, namely Clathria (Microciona) mytilifila sp. nov., Haliclona (Reniera) caduca sp. nov., Latrunculia (L.) ciruela sp. nov., Latrunculia (L.) copihuensis sp. nov., Latrunculia (L.) verenae sp. nov., Latrunculia (L.) yepayek sp. nov., Myxilla (Burtonanchora) araucana sp. nov., Neopodospongia tupecomareni sp. nov., Oceanapia guaiteca sp. nov., Oceanapia spinisphaera sp. nov., Suberites cranium sp. nov. and Tethya melinka sp. nov. The material studied was collected between 5 and 30 m depth at latitudes comprised between 42º and 50ºS, and is part of a large collection of Chilean sponges gathered by an international team in a series of expeditions. Identification keys are provided for SE Pacific Suberites and Latrunculia, and the known species of Myxilla (Burtonanchora) and Neopodospongia. A trans-Pacific link to the New Zealand fauna was retrieved for the latter genus. Distribution ranges apparent from the materials studied here are judged too preliminary to allow any inference on biotic boundaries in the SE Pacific. A revision of earlier assertions about these biogeographic units and their boundaries concluded that very little support remains other than for existence of a Magellanic fauna. This is in part a consequence of revising the taxonomy of sponge species originally deemed to underpin these areas. Specifically, the former proposal of a Central to Southern Chile biogeographic unit (33-56ºS) has been markedly undone.

Integrative taxonomy of calcareous sponges (subclass Calcinea) from the Peruvian coast: morphology, molecules, and biogeography

“…(), and Hajdu et al . (). This is the expected outcome of the north‐bound flow of the Humboldt Current along with more localized upwelling, which assures a temperate climate and an easy route to the north for species distributed much farther south in the Magellanic province (Thiel et al ., ).…”

“…Nonetheless, the three species listed above have not been found in the Magellanic province yet, in spite of the marked increase in latter years of the effort invested in inventorying the sponge fauna in these latitudes (e.g. Hajdu, Desqueyroux‐Faúndez & Willenz, ; Esteves, Lôbo‐Hajdu & Hajdu, ; Azevedo et al ., ; Willenz et al ., , b; Carvalho, Desqueyroux‐Faúndez & Hajdu, ; Hajdu et al ., ). Accordingly, they are more probably warm temperate biotic elements, but the likelihood of a (sub)tropical affinity is hard to dismiss completely, as the knowledge of calcareous sponges in the Tropical Eastern Pacific is, at best, meagre (e.g.…”

A new species of habitat–forming Suberites (Porifera, Demospongiae, Suberitida) in the Benguela upwelling region (South Africa)

“…nov. (Table 4; Table S1). Three Chilean Suberites species, two described by Thiele (1905), Suberites puncturatus Thiele, 1905 and Suberites ruber Thiele, 1905 and one described by Hajdu et al (2013), Suberites cranium Hajdu, Desqueyroux-Faúndez, Carvalho, Lôbo-Hajdu & Willenz, 2013, all have tylostyles in the size catogory of S. dandelenae sp. nov.…”

“…nov. is not encrusting (S. puncturatus), cushion-like or hemisperical (S. cranium); S. dandelenae sp. nov. is not reddish in colour but yellowish-beige in colour (see Hajdu et al 2013) (Table S1). Brøndsted, 1924, Suberites anastomosus Brøndsted, 1924 (both described from New zealand) and S. carnosus (described from the Northern Hemisphere) were reported with a single variable category of tylostyles (Table S1; see also Hajdu et al 2013).…”

“…These species, including S. Carnosus, currently have their distributions restricted to the Northern Hemisphere (Van Soest et al 2016). Furthermore S. carnosus was reported with a single variable category of tylostyles whereas S. ficus were described with additional diactines (Van Soest 2002;Hajdu et al 2013). It is also highly unlikely that the Northern Hemisphere species would spread across the entire Northern and Southern Atlantic Ocean.…”