The World Porifera Database

The WPD, the World Database of all Recent sponges ever described, is part of the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), a global initiative to arrive at a register of all marine organisms. The WPD is a logical follow up and addition to the Systema Porifera (editors Hooper & Van Soest, 2002), the current update of the classification of all sponge taxa above the species level.

The initial aim for the WPD is to be a catalogue of sponge species in a fully hierarchical system to promote stability of sponge names and act as a tool for higher taxon revisions and regional monographs. A further future aim is to be the world’s sponge specimen database in cooperation with (Eur)OBIS and GBIF. In order to have adequate expert knowledge we have formed an editorial committee consisting of: Rob van Soest, general list editor and the following specialist colleagues Nicole Boury-Esnault, editor for Hadromerida, Chondrosida, Dictyoceratida, Dendroceratida, Verongida, Calcarea, Mediterranean fauna John Hooper, editor for Microcionina, Australian fauna Nicole de Voogd, deputy general editor, editor for Haplosclerida, South East Asian fauna Klaus Rützler, editor for Spirophorida Belinda Alvarez, editor for Halichondrida Eduardo Hajdu, editor for Mycalina, South American fauna Andrzej Pisera, editor for Lithistida Jean Vacelet, editor for carnivorous sponges (Cladorhizidae) Renata Manconi, editor for Spongillina Christine Schoenberg, editor for excavating sponges Dorte Janussen, editor for Hexactinellida Konstantin Tabachnick, editor for Hexactinellida Michelle Klautau, editor for Calcarea Bernard Picton, editor for North East Atlantic sponges Editors are responsible for entries, decision on validity of names. Corrections and omissions may be addressed to the relevant editor or the general editor.

Currently (2009), there are 8,306 valid species in the database. For the valid species, we believe the list to be 97% complete, but reaching the final 100% is our obvious short term goal. For this we sollicit your help. If you disagree with a senior synonymy decision or a genus assignment, please let us have your - argumented - corrected assignment. We do frequent updates of the list, so your corrections will be incorporated quickly. More info.

Citation

By downloading or consulting data from this website, the visitor acknowledges that he/she agrees to the following:

If data are extracted from this website for secondary analysis resulting in a publication, the website should be cited as follows:

• Van Soest, R.W.M, Boury-Esnault, N., Hooper, J.N.A., Rützler, K, de Voogd, N.J., Alvarez, B., Hajdu, E., Pisera, A.B., Vacelet, J., Manconi, R., Schoenberg, C., Janussen, D., Tabachnick, K.R., Klautau, M. (2008). World Porifera database. Available online at http://www.marinespecies.org/porifera. Consulted on 2009-07-03

If any data constitutes a substantial proportion of the records used in secondary analyses (i.e. more than 25% of the data are derived from this source, or the data are essential to arrive at the conclusion of the analysis), the editors/managers of the database should be contacted. It may be useful to contact us directly in case there are additional data that may strengthen the analysis or there are features of the data that are important to consider but may not have been apparent from the metadata.