TY - JOUR

T1 - Solving a taxonomic puzzle

T2 - Integrative taxonomy reveals new cryptic and polymorphic species of Oscarella in south-eastern Brazil (Homoscleromorpha: Oscarellidae)

AU - Stillitani , D.

AU - Ересковский, Александр Вадимович

AU - Perez, Thierry

AU - Ruiz, César

AU - Laport , M.S.

AU - Puccinelli , G

AU - Hardoim , C.C.P.

AU - Willenz, P.

AU - Muricy, G.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022

PY - 2022/8/18

Y1 - 2022/8/18

N2 - The sponge genus Oscarella is very important for the understanding of the early evolution of Metazoa, but the identification of its species is particularly difficult due to the absence of a skeleton and high polymorphism, leading to an underestimate of its diversity. The discovery of nine distinct morphotypes of Oscarella co-existing in cryptic habitats in south-east Brazil represents a taxonomic puzzle that requires an integrative taxonomic approach for species delimitation. Here we combined genetic (cox-1 and cob genes), morphological, anatomical, cytological, microbiological, reproductive and ecological datasets to delimit and describe three new species of Oscarella, one of which is highly polymorphic. Oscarella aurantia, sp. nov. is orange, microlobate, with metachromatic vacuolar cells, granular cells, and microgranular cells. Oscarella carollineae, sp. nov. is intertidal, cream or red, microlobate, with granulo-vacuolar cells, dense globular cells, and granular cells. Oscarella ruthae, sp. nov. is highly polymorphic, with tubular or papillate lobes; colour violet, pink, purple, red, orange or cream, often with shades of cream or green at the base; abundant clusters of vacuolar cells type 1, and rare vacuolar cells type 2 and microgranular cells. No single character was sufficient for species delimitation due to high intraspecific variation. Integration of multiple datasets was essential to delimit species of Oscarella and would also be helpful for the taxonomy of other polymorphic sponges. ZooBank LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:0CA34949-1C29-46E8-9AB3-E89F73909E37

AB - The sponge genus Oscarella is very important for the understanding of the early evolution of Metazoa, but the identification of its species is particularly difficult due to the absence of a skeleton and high polymorphism, leading to an underestimate of its diversity. The discovery of nine distinct morphotypes of Oscarella co-existing in cryptic habitats in south-east Brazil represents a taxonomic puzzle that requires an integrative taxonomic approach for species delimitation. Here we combined genetic (cox-1 and cob genes), morphological, anatomical, cytological, microbiological, reproductive and ecological datasets to delimit and describe three new species of Oscarella, one of which is highly polymorphic. Oscarella aurantia, sp. nov. is orange, microlobate, with metachromatic vacuolar cells, granular cells, and microgranular cells. Oscarella carollineae, sp. nov. is intertidal, cream or red, microlobate, with granulo-vacuolar cells, dense globular cells, and granular cells. Oscarella ruthae, sp. nov. is highly polymorphic, with tubular or papillate lobes; colour violet, pink, purple, red, orange or cream, often with shades of cream or green at the base; abundant clusters of vacuolar cells type 1, and rare vacuolar cells type 2 and microgranular cells. No single character was sufficient for species delimitation due to high intraspecific variation. Integration of multiple datasets was essential to delimit species of Oscarella and would also be helpful for the taxonomy of other polymorphic sponges. ZooBank LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:0CA34949-1C29-46E8-9AB3-E89F73909E37

KW - Brazil

KW - Homosclerophorida

KW - Porifera

KW - Tropical Southwestern Atlantic

KW - biodiversity

KW - biology

KW - species delimitation

KW - systematics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85140966599&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1071/IS21056

DO - 10.1071/IS21056

M3 - Article

VL - 36

SP - 714

EP - 750

JO - Invertebrate Systematics

JF - Invertebrate Systematics

SN - 1445-5226

IS - 8

ER -