New records of Calcareous sponges (Porifera, Calcarea) from the Chilean coast

Abstract

The present study is part of a large international effort to inventory the markedly underestimated sponge diversity in the coastal south-eastern Pacific, and figure its biotic affinities with neighbouring faunas in the Antarctic peninsula, in the south-western Atlantic and in the tropical eastern Pacific. Collections were assembled between 2003 and 2007 from 20 Chilean localities, at depths varying from 8 to 35 m. Thirty nine specimens of calcareous sponges were collected totalling 7 species which are described here, 6 being new to science. Four species belong to Calcinea (Clathrina antofagastensis sp. nov., Clathrina fjordica sp. nov., Guancha ramosa sp. nov., and Leucaltis nuda sp. nov.), and 3 to Calcaronea (Leucosolenia australis, Sycon huinayense sp. nov., and Sycettusa chilensis sp. nov.).