Demospongiae

From Palaeos

o Metazoa 
`--o PORIFERA
   |--Hexactinellida 
   `--+--+--Demospongiae 
      |  `?-Archaeocyatha
      |==Sclerospongiae (polyphyletic)?
      |==Stromatoporoidea (polyphyletic)?
      `--+--Calcarea 
         `--Radiata / Eumetazoa

Permian reef diorama; featuring the large sponge Heliospongia (Demospongea,Epipolasida,Heliospongiidae) (middle and left background)

Demosponges are the most widespread and advanced class of sponges, as well as the largest and most diverse class. Some 90 to 95% of all sponge species belong here.

Demosponges construct their skeletons from one-rayed to four-rayed (monaxon or tetraxon) siliceous spicules, or of spongin fibres, or both. Spicules, when present, usually differentiated into megascleres (larger) and microscleres (smaller). Most living demosponges have skeletons of unfused spicules, although due to preservational effects, the fossil record of demosponges is mostly of fused forms.

Demosponges have a leuconoid construction (above), with many small, round, flagellated chambers.

While this class does contain freshwater groups, most are marine. Some demosponges are more than a cubic meter in size. There are three subclasses, the Homoscleromorpha, Tetractinomorpha, and Ceractinomorpha.

[edit] Fossil Record

Crumillospongia sp., a middle Cambrian Desmosponge fossil from the Wheeler Formation, House Range, Utah, USA [http://www.fossilmuseum.net/Cambrian-Explosion/Hazeliidae/Hazeliidae.htm

Lithistids are distinguished by irregular knobby spicules known as "desmas" that interlock to hold the skeleton together in a reticulate wall of great thickness. They fossilize readily and in recognizable form because the interlocking desmas retain the original form of the sponge. This group, which includes many fossil demosponge taxa, is now considered polyphyletic with members in both the Tetractinomorpha and the Ceractinomorpha. However, most workers have refrained from allocating the various families, owing to limited knowledge of the group and the fact that the numerous fossil genera would be difficult or impossible to place since the free spicules are almost always lost upon death of the sponge. [Moore et al, p.93, Clarkson, p.53, Smecher iNet ]

[edit] Taxonomy

<==Demospongiae [Demospongea]
   |  i. s.: Axinellidae
   |           |--Axinella
   |           |    |--A. axifera Hentschel 1912
   |           |    `--A. polypoides
   |           |--Phakellia
   |           |    |--P. arctica
   |           |    `--P. aruensis Hentschel 1912
   |           `--Axinosia incrustans Burton 1930
   |         Spongiidae
   |           |--Spongia
   |           |    |--S. officinalis
   |           |    `--S. tubulifera Lamarck 1814
   |           `--Hippospongia
   |                |--H. communis
   |                `--H. frondosa Hentschel 1912
   |         Plakortis
   |         Ophlitaspongia seriata Grant 1865
   |         Halichondriidae
   |         Stylocordyla borealis
   |         Rhizaxinella burtoni
   |         Chondrocladia gigantea
   |         Pachymatisma johnstonia
   |         Neofibularia mordens
   |         Synops anceps
   |         Tedania [Tedaniidae]
   |           |--T. actiniformis
   |           |--T. brevispiculata Thiele 1903
   |           |--T. coralliophila Thiele 1903
   |           |--T. dirhaphis Hentschel 1912
   |           |--T. maeandrica Thiele 1903
   |           `--T. reticulata Thiele 1903
   |         Xestospongia muta
   |         Esperiopsis digitata
   |         Verongia archeri
   |         Ianthella
   |         Melonanchora kobjakovae
   |         Clionaidae
   |           |--Cliona
   |           |    |--C. celata
   |           |    `--C. orientalis Thiele 1900
   |           `--Thoosa istriaca Müller, Zahn et al. 1979
   |         Polymastiidae
   |           |--Polymastia bursa Koltun 1966
   |           `--Tentorium levantinum Ilan, Gugel et al. 2003
   |         Lissodendoryx
   |           |--L. firma
   |           `--L. kyma
   |         Aplysilla
   |           |--A. rosacea
   |           `--A. sulfurea
   |         Geodiidae
   |         Mycale Gray 1867 [incl. Esperella Vosmaer 1885; Mycalidae]
   |           |--M. armata Thiele 1903 [=Esperella armata ms]
   |           |--M. fibrexilis
   |           |--M. macilenta
   |           |--M. moluccensis Thiele 1903
   |           |--M. rhaphidotoxa Hentschel 1912
   |           |--M. richardsoni
   |           `--M. sulcata
   |                |--M. s. sulcata
   |                `--M. s. aruensis Hentschel 1912
   |         Chalinidae
   |         Agelas [Agelasidae]
   |           |--A. cavernosa Thiele 1903
   |           |--A. cerebrum Assmann, van Soest & Köck 2001
   |           `--A. dispar Duchassaing & Michelotti 1864
   |         Anthracosyconidae
   |         Collatipora Finks 1960
   |--Haplosclerida
   |    |--Spongillidae
   |    `--Pellina Schmidt 1870 [Oceanapiidae]
   |         `--P. penicilliformis van Soest & Sass 1981
   |--Suberitidae [Hadromerida]
   |    |--Suberites
   |    |    |--S. domuncula
   |    |    `--S. ficus
   |    `--Prosuberites Topsent 1893
   |         `--P. geracei van Soest & Sass 1981
   |--Tetillidae [Spirophorida]
   |    |--Tetilla
   |    |    |--T. bacca (Selenka 1867) [incl. T. ternatensis Kieschnick 1896]
   |    |    `--T. japonica
   |    |--Cinachyra Sollas 1886
   |    |    |--C. mertoni Hentschel 1912
   |    |    |--C. nuda Hentschel 1912
   |    |    |--C. subterranea van Soest & Sass 1981
   |    |    `--C. vertex von Lendenfeld 1907
   |    `--Paratetilla aruensis Hentschel 1912
   |--Myxillina [Poecilosclerida]
   |    |--Myxillidae
   |    |    |--Myxilla grata Thiele 1903
   |    |    `--Hymenancora lundbecki Hentschel 1912
   |    `--Coelosphaeridae
   `--Anthaspidellidae [Lithistida, Orchocladina]
        |--Virgaspongiella Rigby & Boyd 2004
        |    `--*V. ramosa Rigby & Boyd 2004
        |--Brianispongia Pickett & Rigby 1983
        |--Virgaspongia Rigby & Manger 994
        |--Cauliculospongia Rigby & Chatterton 1989
        |--Pseudomultistella Deng 1981
        |--Dactylites Finks 1960
        |--Jereina Finks 1960
        |--Lissocoelia Bassler 1927
        |--Incrustatospongia Rigby & Boyd 2004
        |    `--*I. superficiala Rigby & Boyd 2004
        |--Velellospongia Liu, Rigby et al. 1998
        `--Heliospongia Girty 1908

* Type species of genus indicated

[edit] References

Barnich, R., & D. Janussen. 2006. Die Typen und Typoide des Naturmuseums Senckenberg, Nr. 86. Type catalogue of the Porifera in the collections of the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Senckenbergiana Biologica 86 (2): 127-144.

Buss, L. W. 1979. Habitat selection, directional growth and spatial refuges: Why colonial animals have more hiding places. In Biology and Systematics of Colonial Organisms (G. Larwood & B. R. Rosen, eds.) pp. 459-497. Academic Press: London.

Castro, P., & M. E. Huber. 1997. Marine Biology, 2nd ed. WCB McGraw-Hill: Boston.

Cavalier-Smith, T., & E. E.-Y. Chao. 2003. Phylogeny of Choanozoa, Apusozoa, and other Protozoa and early eukaryote megaevolution. Journal of Molecular Evolution 56: 540-563.

Dardeau, M. R. 1984. Synalpheus shrimps (Crustacea: Decapoda: Alpheidae). I. The Gambarelloides group, with a description of a new species. Memoirs of the Hourglass Cruises 7 (2): 1-125.

Fry, W. G. 1979. Taxonomy, the individual and the sponge. In Biology and Systematics of Colonial Organisms (G. Larwood & B. R. Rosen, eds.) pp. 49-80. Academic Press: London.

Jiménez-Guri, E., H. Philippe, B. Okamura & P. W. H. Holland. 2007. Buddenbrockia is a cnidarian worm. Science 317: 116-118.

Lee, W. L. 2001. Four new species of Forcepia (Porifera, Demospongiae, Poecilosclerida, Coelosphaeridae) from California, and synonymy of Wilsa de Laubenfels, 1930, with Forcepia, Carter, 1874. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 52 (18): 227-244.

Menzies, R. J., & W. L. Kruczynski. 1983. Isopod Crustacea (exclusive of Epicaridea). Memoirs of the Hourglass Cruises 6 (1): 1-126.

Rigby, J. K., & D. W. Boyd. 2004. Sponges from the Park City Formation (Permian) of Wyoming. Journal of Paleontology 78 (1): 71-76.

Soest, R. W. M. van, & M. Velikonja. 1986. Porifera. In Stygofauna Mundi: A Faunistic, Distributional, and Ecological Synthesis of the World Fauna inhabiting Subterranean Waters (including the Marine Interstitial) (L. Botosaneanu, ed.) pp. 30-32. E. J. Brill / Dr. W. Backhuys: Leiden.

Credits

MAK030430; taxonomy CKT071208