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A skeleton‐less sponge of C aribbean mangroves: invasive or undescribed?
Author(s) -
Alvizu A.,
Díaz M.C.,
Bastidas C.,
Rützler K.,
Thacker R.W.,
Márquez L.M.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
invertebrate biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.486
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1744-7410
pISSN - 1077-8306
DOI - 10.1111/ivb.12015
Subject(s) - sponge , mangrove , biology , phylogenetic tree , population , ecology , genus , zoology , botany , gene , genetics , demography , sociology
Recent surveys of sponges occurring on Caribbean mangrove roots demonstrated the presence of a skeleton‐less sponge of the genus H alisarca, very similar in its morphology to the temperate H . dujardinii . This study evaluated the possibility that the mangrove sponge was actually H . dujardinii that had been introduced into the Caribbean mangroves. Detailed histology revealed differences between the mangrove sponge and H . dujardinii in cuticle thickness, and in characteristics of the choanocytes, spherulous, and granular cells. Also, phylogenetic reconstruction and genetic distance estimates based on cytochrome oxidase I gene sequences clearly differentiated the mangrove H alisarca sp. from H . dujardinii . Therefore, we rejected the hypothesis of the invasion of H . dujardinii , recognizing instead the mangrove H alisarca sp. as a new species and naming it H . restingaensis sp. nov. Estimated levels of genetic variation in the ribosomal internal transcribed spacers indicated that populations of H . restingaensis sp. nov. are highly differentiated between Venezuela and Panama ( F st =0.71). This level of population differentiation is consistent with the short larval competence period that is common in members of the genus H alisarca .