Summary: | 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 totaling 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 ramose sp. nov. , and Leucaltis nuda sp. nov. ), and 3 to Calcaronea ( Leucosolenia australis, Sycon huinayense sp. nov. , and Sycettusa chilensis sp. nov. ).
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