Integrated Marine Information System (IMIS)
Persons | Institutes | Publications | Projects | Datasets| [ report an error in this record ] |
 |
WPD: World Porifera Database
Citable as data publication
de Voogd, N.J.; Alvarez, B.; Boury-Esnault, N.; Cárdenas, P.; Díaz, M.-C.; Dohrmann, M.; Downey, R.; Goodwin, C.; Hajdu, E.; Hooper, J.N.A.; Kelly, M.; Klautau, M.; Lim, S.C.; Manconi, R.; Morrow, C.; Pinheiro, U.; Pisera, A.B.; Ríos, P.; Rützler, K.; Schönberg, C.; Turner, T.; Vacelet, J.; van Soest, R.W.M.; Xavier, J. (2025). World Porifera Database. Accessed at https://www.marinespecies.org/porifera on yyyy-mm-dd. https://doi.org/10.14284/359
Contact:
de Voogd, Nicole
Availability: 
This dataset is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This dataset is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.Description
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 complementary to the Systema Porifera (editors Hooper & Van Soest, 2002), the two volume comprehensive classification of all sponge taxa above the species level. It incorporates recent and future amendments of the sponge classification, including the recently proposed revision of Morrow & Cárdenas (2015). more
The aim for the WPD is to be a catalogue of sponge species in a continuously updated, fully hierarchical system to promote stability of sponge names, to serve the community of users of sponge names, and to act as a tool for higher taxon revisions and regional monographs. A further aim is to be the world’s comprehensive database for sponge type specimens and other important vouchered specimens. Additional information we are making available are (overview) distributions of all species and unaccepted name combinations occurring in the literature.
The aim for the WPD is to be a catalogue of sponge species in a continuously updated, fully hierarchical system to promote stability of sponge names, to serve the community of users of sponge names, and to act as a tool for higher taxon revisions and regional monographs. A further aim is to be the world’s comprehensive database for sponge type specimens and other important vouchered specimens. Additional information we are making available are (overview) distributions of all species and unaccepted name combinations occurring in the literature.
Scope
Themes:
Biology, Biology > Ecology - biodiversity, Biology > Invertebrates
Keywords:
Marine/Coastal · Fresh water · Brackish water · Classification · Marine invertebrates · Species · Taxonomy · World Waters · World Oceans · Porifera
Geographical coverage
World Oceans [Marine Regions]
Temporal coverage
From 1758 on [In Progress]
Taxonomic coverage
Porifera [WoRMS]
Parameters
Taxonomy
Contributors
de Voogd, Nicole, data creator, taxonomic editor
Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), more, database developer
Alvarez, Belinda, data creator, taxonomic editor
Boury-Esnault, Nicole, data creator, taxonomic editor
Cárdenas, Paco, data creator, taxonomic editor
Díaz, Maria-Cristina, data creator, taxonomic editor
Dohrmann, Martin, data creator, taxonomic editor
Downey, Rachel, data creator, taxonomic editor
Goodwin, Claire, data creator, taxonomic editor
Hajdu, Eduardo, data creator, taxonomic editor
Hooper, John, data creator, taxonomic editor
Kelly, Michelle, data creator, taxonomic editor
Klautau, Michelle, data creator, taxonomic editor
Lim, Swee-Cheng, data creator, taxonomic editor
Manconi, Renata, data creator, taxonomic editor
Morrow, Christine, data creator, taxonomic editor
Pinheiro, Ulisses, data creator, taxonomic editor
Pisera, Andrzej, data creator, taxonomic editor
Ríos, Pilar, data creator, taxonomic editor
Schönberg, Christine, data creator, taxonomic editor
Turner, Thomas, data creator, taxonomic editor
Vacelet, Jean, data creator, taxonomic editor
van Soest, Rob, data creator, taxonomic editor
Xavier, Joana, data creator, taxonomic editor
Related datasets
Published in:
WoRMS: World Register of Marine Species, more
Publication
Based on this dataset
Van Soest, R.W.M. et al. (2012). Global diversity of sponges (Porifera). PLoS One 7(4): e35105. dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0035105, more
Used in this dataset
Hooper, J.N.A.; Van Soest, R.W.M. (Ed.) (2002). Systema Porifera: A guide to the classification of Sponges. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers: New York. ISBN 0-306-47260-0. 2 vols. pp., more
Dataset status: In Progress
Data type: Data
Data origin: Literature research
Metadatarecord created: 2005-07-12
Information last updated: 2026-02-23
