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.

Porifera news Point of view: Higher taxa changes in the WPD Added on: 2012-05-17 16:23:19 by van Soest, Rob Authors of recent phylogenetic papers in which new higher taxa are proposed based on new (molecular) results must exercise patience in awaiting incorporation of their proposals in the WPD. We take the view that continuity and internal consistency of the WPD classification dictates restraint with implementing high impact changes. ... [Read more] Phylogenetic relationships of keratose sponges. Added on: 2012-05-03 19:49:30 by van Soest, Rob Erpenbeck, D.; Sutcliffe, P.; De Cook, S.C.; Dietzel, A.; Maldonado, M.; Van Soest, R.W.M.; Hooper, J.N.A.; Wörheide, G. 2012. Horny sponges and their affairs: On the phylogenetic relationships of keratose sponges. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 63: 809-816. ... [Read more] Global Diversity of Sponges estimated from contents of the World Porifera Database Added on: 2012-04-28 14:29:29 by van Soest, Rob Rob W. M. Van Soest, Nicole Boury-Esnault, Jean Vacelet, Martin Dohrmann, Dirk Erpenbeck, Nicole J. De Voogd, Nadiezhda Santodomingo, Bart Vanhoorne, Michelle Kelly, John N. A. Hooper, 2012. Global Diversity of Sponges (Porifera). PLosONE 7 (4) e35105. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0035105 (23 pp.) ... [Read more] Three new Brazilian species of Strongylacidon Added on: 2012-04-27 11:30:45 by van Soest, Rob Carla Menegola, George Joaquim Garcia Santos, Fernando Moraes and Guilherme Muricy, 2012. Three new species of Strongylacidon (Chondropsidae: Poecilosclerida: Demospongiae) from north-east Brazil, with new morphological characters for the family. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK, doi:10.1017/S0025315411000555 ... [Read more] Proceedings of the Girona Conference published Added on: 2012-04-23 15:40:57 by van Soest, Rob Xavier Turon, Maria Jesús Uriz, Manuel Maldonado, Mikel A. Becerro (Editors). Proceedings of the VIII Sponge Conference held in Spain in Sept 2010. Hydrobiologia 687 (Number 1): 1-351 May 2012. [Read more] [Add] [Older news... ]

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 database for sponge type specimens and other important vouchered specimens. Additional information we soon will have available is overview distributions of all taxa and non-original and non-accepted species name combinations. 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 the East Atlantic fauna Michelle Kelly, editor for the New Zealand fauna 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 (2012), there are 8,372 valid species in the database (among almost 20,000 taxon names). Acceptance is an editorial decision, but we acknowledge such decisions need to be re-examined frequently in the light of new information. If you disagree with senior synonymy decisions or genus assignments, please let us have your - argumented - corrected assignment. 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 de Glasby, B., Hajdu, E., Pisera, A.B., Manconi, R., Schoenberg, C., Janussen, D., Tabachnick, K.R., Klautau, M., Picton, B., Kelly, M., Vacelet, J. (2012). World Porifera database. Available online at http://www.marinespecies.org/porifera. Consulted on 2012-05-21

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.