WoRMS name details
Higginsia coralloides var. liberiensis Higgin, 1877
165993 (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:165993)
unaccepted (status change)
Variety
marine, brackish, fresh, terrestrial
recent only
Higgin, T. (1877). Description of some Sponges obtained during a Cruise of the Steam-Yacht ‘Argo' in the Caribbean and neighbouring Seas. <em>Annals and Magazine of Natural History.</em> (4) 19: 291-299, pl. XIV.
page(s): 293 [details]
page(s): 293 [details]
Type locality contained in Gulf of Guinea West
type locality contained in Gulf of Guinea West [details]
Status The variety was described by Higgin as dredged from the sea bottom off the West African locality Cape Palmas, Liberia,...
Status The variety was described by Higgin as dredged from the sea bottom off the West African locality Cape Palmas, Liberia, approximate coordinates 4.37°N 7.73°W, depth not recorded. Type material of H. liberiensis has not been identified with certainty so far. The Natural History Museum Data Portal has one specimen labeled as H. coralloides var. liberiensis, BMNH 1933.8.5.1, but it was collected in rock pools on the ‘Gold Coast’ (=Ghana) by a different collector than given in Higgin’s original paper. The type material has possibly been destroyed during WWII when the Liverpool Free Museum was bombed. It was erected largely on the basis of spicule differences with the typical variety also described by Higgin (1877: 291) from Carinage Harbour, Grenada, Eastern Caribbean, approximate coordinates 12.13°N 61.76°W, depth not recorded but obtained “by diving” (type slide BMNH 1886.12.15.92, fide Hooper 2002: 763). The species was also subsequently reported from Florida, North Carolina, Bahamas, Yucatan, Guyana coast. The shape (fan-like mass of interconnected branches) is similar in both, the main skeletal spicules are similar robust oxeas of about 650 x 20–33 μm, and both have additional thin anisoxeas. However, the acanthomicroxeas of the present variety are only about half the size (averaging 75 x 6 μm) of those of the typical variety (averaging 140 x 4 μm, cf. Van Soest 2017: 55). Apparently there is also a color difference between the varieties as Higgin (1877: 293) mentioned, as well as a difference in texture. In view of the geographic separation by the deep Atlantic, I confirm here as valid the casual elevation of the present variety to species level as Higginsia liberiensis Higgin, 1877 by Van Soest (1987: 24). Burton (1956: 133) assigned the present species/variety along with almost all other Higginsia species to the synonymy of Higginsia strigilata (Lamarck, 1814), but this conclusion has not been followed by the sponge colleagues. Burton mentioned two ‘typical’ specimens from West African waters (9.3833°N 15.1167°W and 9.4667°N 14.9667°W) from depths of 30–45 m. It is likely that his specimens belong to H. liberiensis. [details]
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. Higginsia coralloides var. liberiensis Higgin, 1877. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=165993 on 2025-05-13
Date
action
by
2005-07-10 18:05:41Z
created
db_admin
The webpage text is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 License
Nomenclature
original description
Higgin, T. (1877). Description of some Sponges obtained during a Cruise of the Steam-Yacht ‘Argo' in the Caribbean and neighbouring Seas. <em>Annals and Magazine of Natural History.</em> (4) 19: 291-299, pl. XIV.
page(s): 293 [details]
new combination reference Van Soest, R.W.M. (1987). Biogeographic and taxonomic notes on some Eastern Atlantic sponges. <i>In</i>: Jones WC (ed) European contributions to the taxonomy of sponges. <em>Publications of the Sherkin Island Marine Station.</em> 1: 13-28.
page(s): 24 [details]
page(s): 293 [details]
new combination reference Van Soest, R.W.M. (1987). Biogeographic and taxonomic notes on some Eastern Atlantic sponges. <i>In</i>: Jones WC (ed) European contributions to the taxonomy of sponges. <em>Publications of the Sherkin Island Marine Station.</em> 1: 13-28.
page(s): 24 [details]
Other
additional source
Van Soest, R.W.M. (2024). Correcting sponge names: nomenclatural update of lower taxa level Porifera. <em>Zootaxa.</em> 5398(1): 1-122., available online at https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5398.1.1
page(s): 49 [details] Available for editors
[request]
page(s): 49 [details] Available for editors
[request]
Present Present in aphia/obis/gbif/idigbio Inaccurate Introduced: alien Containing type locality
Nontype BMNH 1933.8.5.1, geounit Ghanaian Exclusive Economic Zone [details]
From editor or global species database
Status The variety was described by Higgin as dredged from the sea bottom off the West African locality Cape Palmas, Liberia, approximate coordinates 4.37°N 7.73°W, depth not recorded. Type material of H. liberiensis has not been identified with certainty so far. The Natural History Museum Data Portal has one specimen labeled as H. coralloides var. liberiensis, BMNH 1933.8.5.1, but it was collected in rock pools on the ‘Gold Coast’ (=Ghana) by a different collector than given in Higgin’s original paper. The type material has possibly been destroyed during WWII when the Liverpool Free Museum was bombed. It was erected largely on the basis of spicule differences with the typical variety also described by Higgin (1877: 291) from Carinage Harbour, Grenada, Eastern Caribbean, approximate coordinates 12.13°N 61.76°W, depth not recorded but obtained “by diving” (type slide BMNH 1886.12.15.92, fide Hooper 2002: 763). The species was also subsequently reported from Florida, North Carolina, Bahamas, Yucatan, Guyana coast. The shape (fan-like mass of interconnected branches) is similar in both, the main skeletal spicules are similar robust oxeas of about 650 x 20–33 μm, and both have additional thin anisoxeas. However, the acanthomicroxeas of the present variety are only about half the size (averaging 75 x 6 μm) of those of the typical variety (averaging 140 x 4 μm, cf. Van Soest 2017: 55). Apparently there is also a color difference between the varieties as Higgin (1877: 293) mentioned, as well as a difference in texture. In view of the geographic separation by the deep Atlantic, I confirm here as valid the casual elevation of the present variety to species level as Higginsia liberiensis Higgin, 1877 by Van Soest (1987: 24). Burton (1956: 133) assigned the present species/variety along with almost all other Higginsia species to the synonymy of Higginsia strigilata (Lamarck, 1814), but this conclusion has not been followed by the sponge colleagues. Burton mentioned two ‘typical’ specimens from West African waters (9.3833°N 15.1167°W and 9.4667°N 14.9667°W) from depths of 30–45 m. It is likely that his specimens belong to H. liberiensis. [details]
