From caves to seamounts: the hidden diversity of tetractinellid sponges from the Balearic Islands, with the description of eight new species.

ABSTRACT: The sponge fauna of the Western Mediterranean stands as one of the most studied in the world. Yet sampling new habitats and a poorly studied region like the Balearic Islands highlights once again our limited knowledge of this group of animals. This work focused on demosponges of the order Tetractinellida collected in several research surveys (2016-2021) on a variety of ecosystems of the Balearic Islands, including shallow caves, seamounts and trawl fishing grounds, in a broad depth range (0-725 m). Tetractinellid material from the North Atlantic and more than twenty type specimens were also examined and, for some, re-described in this work. All species were barcoded with the traditional molecular markers COI (Folmer fragment) and 28S (C1-C2 or C1-D2 fragment). A total of 36 species were id

SUBMITTER: Diaz JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11636720 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature