An overview of the Mediterranean cave-dwelling horny sponges (Porifera, Demospongiae)

Renata Manconi,Fabio Ledda,Barbara Cadeddu,Roberto Pronzato

doi:10.3897/zookeys.281.4171

Abstract

The present synthesis focuses on the so called ‘horny sponges’ recorded from marine caves of the Mediterranean Sea. The main aim is to provide a list of all recorded species, diagnostic keys to their identification up to family and genus level, and exhaustive, formally uniform descriptions at the species level contributing to sharing of information on the faunistics and taxonomy of Mediterranean cave-dwelling species, including habitat preferences. The majority of species was recorded in 105 Mediterranean marine caves hosting four orders of horny sponges belonging to 9 families, 19 genera and 40 species. Species endemic to the Mediterranean Sea harboured in marine caves are 14 with an endemicity value of 35%. For each species morphological descriptions are supported by illustrations both original and from the literature, including the diagnostic traits of the skeleton by light and scanning electron microscopy giving further characterization at the specific level. A detailed map together with a list of all caves harbouring horny sponges is also provided with geographic coordinates.

Highlights

The Mediterranean area represents a hot spot of biodiversity and needs more and deeper studies together with urgent conservation plans on its marine biocoenosis and ecosystems
The horny sponge fauna is characterized by high levels of endemism (18 species=31.6% endemicity) from all Mediterranean biotopes (Pansini 1992; Pansini and Longo 2003, 2008; Pronzato 2003; Voultsiadou 2005; Pronzato and Manconi 2011)
The present paper reports all known records of the horny sponges (Orders Dendroceratida, Dictyoceratida, Halisarcida,Verongida) from a wide array of marine caves in the entire Mediterranean Sea with a checklist and diagnostic keys to benefit an online open-access supporting global sharing of information on faunistics and taxonomy (Fig. 1; Tables 1, 2)

Summary

Introduction

The Mediterranean area represents a hot spot of biodiversity and needs more and deeper studies together with urgent conservation plans on its marine biocoenosis and ecosystems. The present paper reports all known records of the horny sponges (Orders Dendroceratida, Dictyoceratida, Halisarcida,Verongida) from a wide array of marine caves in the entire Mediterranean Sea with a checklist and diagnostic keys to benefit an online open-access supporting global sharing of information on faunistics and taxonomy (Fig. 1; Tables 1, 2). In recent times only a few studies were published on horny sponge fauna mostly reporting on restricted geographic areas of the Mediterranean Sea (Vacelet 1959; Pronzato 1975; Pulitzer-Finali and Pronzato 1976, 1980; Rubió-Lois et al 1981; Voultsiadou-Koukoura and Koukouras 1993; Uriz and Maldonado 2000; Pronzato et al 2004; Pronzato and Manconi 2008, 2011)

Materials and methods

Findings

Conclusive remarks