Catalogue of Brazilian Porifera - Porifera Brasil - UFRJ

ABSTRACTAll the literature (486 references) of the Phylum Porifera of Brazil up to year 2010 is tabulated to generate athorough annotated classification. A total of 3770 records of 443 identified species of Brazilian sponges are listed.Demospongiae is the most diverse Class, with 380 species in 63 families, followed by Calcarea (47 species in 9families) and Hexactinellida (16 species in 9 families). The Class Demospongiae includes 327 marine and 53freshwater sponges.The most diverse families in Brazil are Spongillidae with 28 species (freshwater sponges), Geodiidae (20),Ancorinidae (19) and Aplysinidae (17 species), all from the class Demospongiae. In addition, 340 morphospecieswere identified only to genus level or higher, showing that the true sponge diversity in Brazil probably exceeds 700species. Synonymizations, revalidations, replacement names and emended spellings are proposed when necessary.The complete list of nomenclatural acts herein proposed and a list of names once reported from Brazil but nolonger considered as valid records are given. A list of species by administrative divisions is provided for all localitiestreated. The localities with the highest number of species recorded were Salvador with 72 species, Recife with 68,Potiguar Basin (65), Fernando de Noronha Archipelago (59), São Sebastião (55) and Arraial do Cabo (52 species).These numbers, however, should be interpreted carefully as they reflect not only the real number of sponge speciesbut also the collection effort and the stage of development of the taxonomy of sponges in each area. Overall, thiscatalogue shows that the sponge fauna of Brazil is highly diverse and still largely unknown.Key words:Porifera, Demospongiae, Calcarea, Hexactinellida, Neotropics, Brazil, Southwestern Atlantic, marine, freshwater,new synonyms, new records.7