Spongillidae

Ogulin cave sponge Eunapius subterraneus subterraneus, from here.

Belongs within: Heteroscleromorpha.

The Spongillidae are one of the few groups of sponges found in fresh water. Other than their freshwater habit, they are characterised by the production of resistant propagatory structures called gemmules. Formed from a cluster of amoeboid cells enveloped in hardened membranes, gemmules are able to withstand freezing and/or desiccation, releasing cells to form a new sponge when conditions allow.

<==Spongillidae
    |--Radiospongilla cerebellata G88
    |--Pectispongilla G88
    |--Anheteromeyenia MC15
    |--Corvoheteromeyenia MC15
    |--Dosilia MC15
    |--Duosclera MC15
    |--Heteromeyenia MC15
    |--Heterotula MC15
    |--Nudospongilla MC15
    |--Pachyrotula MC15
    |--Pottsiela MC15
    |--Racekiela MC15
    |--Sanidastra MC15
    |--Saturnospongilla MC15
    |--Stratospongilla MC15
    |--Trochospongilla MC15
    |--Umborotula MC15
    |--Uruguayella MC15
    |--Ephydatia SV86
    |    |--E. fluviatilis SV86
    |    `--E. muelleri (Lieberkühn 1855) SV86
    |--Corvospongilla MC15
    |    |--C. loricata PB27
    |    |--C. micramphidiscoides PB27
    |    `--C. scabrispiculis PB27
    |--Spongilla C-SC03
    |    |--S. alba PP15
    |    |--S. cenota Penney & Racek 1968 SV86
    |    |--S. lacustris C-SC03
    |    |--S. (Stratospongilla) schubotzi PB27
    |    `--S. sumatrana PB27
    |--Eunapius SV86
    |    |--E. aetheriae [=Spongilla (Eunapius) aetheriae] PB27
    |    |--E. fragilis (Leidy 1851) SV86
    |    `--E. subterraneus Sket & Velikonja 1985 SV86
    |         |--E. s. subterraneus SV86
    |         `--E. s. mollisparspanis Sket & Velikonja 1985 SV86
    `--Carterias B50

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B50] Brooks, J. L. 1950. Speciation in ancient lakes. Quarterly Review of Biology 25: 30–60.

[C-SC03] Cavalier-Smith, T., & E. E.-Y. Chao. 2003. Phylogeny of Choanozoa, Apusozoa, and other Protozoa and early eukaryote megaevolution. Journal of Molecular Evolution 56: 540–563.

[G88] Gray, J. 1988. Evolution of the freshwater ecosystem: the fossil record. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 62: 1–214.

[MC15] Morrow, C., & P. Cárdenas. 2015. Proposal for a revised classification of the Demospongiae (Porifera). Frontiers in Zoology 12: 7.

[PB27] Pilsbry, H. A., & J. Bequaert. 1927. The aquatic mollusks of the Belgian Congo, with a geographical and ecological account of Congo malacology. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 53 (2): 69–602, pls 10–77.

[PP15] Pisani, D., W. Pett, M. Dohrmann, R. Feuda, O. Rota-Stabelli, H. Philippe, N. Lartillot & G. Wörheide. 2015. Genomic data do not support comb jellies as the sister group to all other animals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 112 (50): 15402–15407.

[SV86] Soest, R. W. M. van, & M. Velikonja. 1986. Porifera. In: Botosaneanu, L. (ed.) Stygofauna Mundi: A Faunistic, Distributional, and Ecological Synthesis of the World Fauna inhabiting Subterranean Waters (including the Marine Interstitial) pp. 30–32. E. J. Brill/Dr W. Backhuys: Leiden.

Last updated: 16 March 2022.