New records of Calcareous sponges (Porifera, Calcarea) from the Chilean coast

• Published in: Zootaxa
• Main Authors: AZEVEDO, FERNANDA, HAJDU, EDUARDO, WILLENZ, PHILIPPE, KLAUTAU, MICHELLE
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Mangolia Press 2009
• Subjects: Porifera; Calcarea; Chile; Sponges; taxonomy; Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Pacific; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://www.mapress.com/zt/article/view/zootaxa.2072.1.1

The present study is part of a large international effort to inventory the markedly underestimated sponge diversity in the coastal south-eastern Pacific, and figure its biotic affinities with neighbouring faunas in the Antarctic peninsula, in the south-western Atlantic and in the tropical eastern Pacific. Collections were assembled between 2003 and 2007 from 20 Chilean localities, at depths varying from 8 to 35 m. Thirty nine specimens of calcareous sponges were collected totalling 7 species which are described here, 6 being new to science. Four species belong to Calcinea (Clathrina antofagastensis sp. nov., Clathrina fjordica sp. nov., Guancha ramosa sp. nov., and Leucaltis nuda sp. nov.), and 3 to Calcaronea (Leucosolenia australis, Sycon huinayense sp. nov., and Sycettusa chilensis sp. nov.).