Polymastiidae (Demospongiae: Hadromerida) with ornamented exotyles: a review of morphological affinities and description of a new genus and three new species

• Published in: Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom
• Main Authors: Plotkin, Alexander, Morrow, Christine, Gerasimova, Elena, Rapp, Hans Tore
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: sponges; Demospongiae; Polymastiidae; morphological affinities; new species; European Union (EU); Horizon 2020; Grant Agreement No 679849; Deep-sea Sponge Grounds Ecosystems of the North Atlantic: an integrated approach towards their preservation and sustainable exploitation; Antarctic; Bergen; Greenland; Klaus; New Zealand; The Antarctic; Valentine; Antarc*; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://zenodo.org/record/1010408; https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025315416000655

All polymastiid sponges displaying ornamented exotyles are reviewed and their morphological affinities are reconsidered. The study embraces all known species of Proteleia, Sphaerotylus, Trachyteleia and Tylexocladus as well as several species of Polymastia. A new genus, Koltunia, is established for the Antarctic species Proteleia burtoni based on the unique shape of distal ornamentations of its giant exotyles and on the absence of a spicule palisade in its cortex, a rare feature among the polymastiids. Three new species of Sphaerotylus are described – S. renoufi from the British Isles, S. strobilis from South Africa and S. tjalfei from West Greenland. Transfer of one New Zealand species from Polymastia to Proteleia and of one Chilean species from Polymastia to Sphaerotylus is proposed. The present study provides a background for future integrative phylogenetic analyses based on comprehensive molecular and morphological datasets which should reveal the natural relationships between the polymastiid taxa. We would like to express our gratitude to all colleagues who kindly provided the access to the historical and recent sponge collections of their institutions, namely to Clare Valentine, Andrew Cabrinovic and Emma Sherlock (National History Museum, London), Bruce Marshall (Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington), Bernard E. Picton (Ulster Museum, Belfast), Carsten Lüter and Carsten Eckert (Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin), Michèle Bruni (Musée Océanographique de Monaco), Ole Secher Tendal (Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen), Boris Sirenko and Olga Sheiko (Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint-Petersburg), Claude Lévi and Isabelle Domart-Coulon (Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris), Klaus Rützler (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington), Nicole de Voogd and J. Koos van Egmond (National Museum of Natural History, Leiden). Egil Severin Erichsen (University of Bergen) and Marie-Louise Tritz (Naturmuseum Senckenberg, Frankfurt am ...