Figure 1.
Historic taxonomic overview of lithistid demosponges.
From the monophyly suggested by Sollas (1888) to the hypotheses of polyphyly of modern authors, it shows the attempts to reallocate most genera of the order ‘Lithistida’ to their closest relatives.
Figure 2.
Various desma skeletons within lithistid demosponges.
(A) sphaeroclone desmas (Vetulinidae); (B) megaclone desmas (Pleromidae); C–D rhizoclone desmas (Scleritodermidae, Azoricidae, Siphonididae); E–F dicranoclone desmas (Corallistidae).
Figure 3.
Various desma skeletons within lithistid demosponges.
(A) tetraclone desmas (Phymatellidae); (B) tetraclone desmas (Theonellidae); (C–D) monaxial complex shaped desmas (Neopeltidae); (E) complex shaped desmas (Macandrewiidae) resembling tetraclones; (F) trider-like desmas of Desmanthidae; (G–H) trider-like desmas of Phymaraphiniidae.
Figure 4.
Illustration of different mega- and microscleres within lithistid demosponges. (A–F) different types of ectosomal spicules.
(A): Monaxial ectosomal plate as found in the family of Neopeltidae. (B,C): Different phyllotriaenes within the family Theonellidae. (D,E): Two representatives of dichotriaenes (D): Neophrissospongia, (E): Corallistidae. (F): Discotriaene as found in the family Theonellidae. (G–M) different types of microscleres. (G): Amphiaster (Neopeltidae). (H): Metaster (Corallistidae). (I,J): Spiraster (Corallistidae). (K): Raphids (Azoricidae). (L): acanthorhabds (Scleritodermidae). (M): Exotylostyl (Siphonididae). (N,O) cross-sections of the ectosome and upper part of choanosome showing the skeleton architecture within the family Pleromidae. (N) Pleroma turbinatum collected during the Deep Down Under Expedition in 2009 at the deep fore-reef slopes of the Osprey Reef (Coral Sea, Australia).
Table 1.
The current molecular data for lithistid demosponges from GenBank, and their suggested reallocation of 9 of the 13 lithistid families to their closest non-lithistid relatives.
Table 2.
Localities of sponge specimens, museum voucher numbers, GB and ENA accession numbers used in this study.
Figure 5.
Bayesian Inference (MrBayes, GTR+I+G model) phylogeny of a representative selection of demosponge taxa based on CO1.
The maximum likelihood (RAxML) tree is congruent. Squares represent node supports. Black squares: PP = 0.95–1.00, BP = 75–100. Dark gray squares: PP = 0.75–0.94, BP = 60–74. White squares: PP<0.75, BP<60. Black triangle indicates lithistid families. Numbers behind taxon names are either voucher numbers or GenBank accession numbers. Self-generated sequences are in bold.
Table 3.
Summary of taxonomic changes from our present study and previous studies.
Figure 6.
Bayesian Inference (MrBayes, GTR+I+G model) phylogeny of a representative selection of demosponge taxa based on 28S rDNA (partition C1–D2).
The maximum likelihood (RAxML) tree is congruent. Squares represent node supports. Black squares: PP = 0.95–1.00, BP = 75–100. Dark gray squares: PP = 0.75–0.94, BP = 60–74. White squares: PP<0.75, BP<60. Black triangle indicates lithistid families. Numbers behind taxon names are either voucher numbers or GenBank accession numbers. Self-generated sequences are in bold.
Figure 7.
Parsimony ancestral state reconstruction of mega- and microscleres mapped on an imported modified molecular Bayesian Inference 28S rDNA (partition C1–D2) gene tree from Fig. 6 in Mesquite v.2.75.
The phylograms represent the presents or absents of megascleres (left) and microscleres (right). Numbers behind taxon names are either voucher numbers or GenBank accession numbers.