Vicente Jan, Ríos Jaime Andrés, Zea Sven, Toonen Robert J
University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology, Kāne'ohe, HI, USA.
Universidad Nacional de Colombia-Sede Bogotá-Departamento de Biología, Ciudad Universitaria, Bogotá, Colombia.
PeerJ. 2019 Feb 5;7:e6371. doi: 10.7717/peerj.6371. eCollection 2019.
(Porifera: Demospongiae: Haplosclerida) is described as a morphologically variable sponge common on shallow reefs of the Caribbean. However, the range of morphological and reproductive variation within putative led us to hypothesize that such variability may be indicative of cryptic species rather than plasticity. Using DNA sequences and morphological characters we confirmed the presence of three previously undescribed species of . Morphological differences of each new congener were best resolved by partial gene sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 over nuclear ones (18S rRNA and 28S rRNA). Several new characters for were revealed by each new species. For example, sp. nov. and sp. nov. showed the presence of grooves on the surface of the sponge body that converge at the oscula, and a more disorganized skeleton than previously defined for the genus. sp. nov. adds the (1) presence of sigma microscleres, (2) significantly wider/longer oxeas (>200 μm), and (3) the presence of parenchymella larvae. Sampling of conspecifics throughout several locations in the Caribbean revealed larger spicules in habitats closer to the continental shelf than those in remote island locations. Our study highlights the importance of integrating molecular and morphological systematics for the discrimination of new spp. despite belonging to one of several polyphyletic groups (families, genera) within the current definition of the order Haplosclerida.
（多孔动物门：寻常海绵纲：单轴海绵目）被描述为一种形态多变的海绵，常见于加勒比海的浅礁区域。然而，假定物种内形态和生殖变异的范围使我们推测，这种变异性可能表明存在隐存种而非可塑性。利用DNA序列和形态特征，我们证实了存在三种先前未描述过的[海绵物种名称]。与核基因序列（18S rRNA和28S rRNA）相比，线粒体细胞色素氧化酶亚基1的部分基因序列能更好地分辨每个新同属物种的形态差异。每个新物种都揭示了[海绵物种名称]的几个新特征。例如，[新物种1名称]和[新物种2名称]显示海绵体表面存在在出水口处汇聚的凹槽，且骨架比该属先前定义的更为杂乱。[新物种3名称]增加了以下特征：（1）存在σ型小骨针，（2）显著更宽/更长的单轴骨针（>200μm），以及（3）实质幼虫的存在。在加勒比海多个地点对同种个体的采样显示，靠近大陆架的栖息地中的骨针比偏远岛屿地点的更大。我们的研究强调了整合分子和形态系统学对于鉴别新的[海绵物种名称]的重要性，尽管它们属于单轴海绵目当前定义中的几个多系类群（科、属）之一。
