Molecular and morphological differentiation of sympatric larvae of coral excavating sponges of genus Thoosa

作者：Bautista Guerrero Eric^*; Luis Carballo Jose; Aguilar Camacho Jose Maria; Sifuentes Romero Itzel

来源：Zoomorphology, 2016, 135(2): 159-165.

DOI：10.1007/s00435-016-0305-z

• Porifera
• Excavating sponges
• Cytochrome oxidase
• Hoplitomella larvae 4
• DNA barcode

Thoosa calpulli and T. mismalolli are two of the most abundant excavating sponges in reefs in the Mexican Pacific Ocean. These species release large numbers of larvae into the water column, which are apparently capable of dispersing long distances. However, determining important aspects of larval ecology (distribution, dispersal pattern, dynamics, etc.) is challenging due to the lack of appropriate taxonomical characters for larval ID in sponges. This work describes the morphology of the planktonic larvae of these two sympatric species. Different subtle morphological characteristics associated with body size and spicule ornamentation of the monaxonic discs were considered to be relevant to distinguish between both species, which allowed an easy process for taxonomical identification. A partial sequence of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase c subunit 1 (cox1) of larvae collected directly from the plankton and adults was amplified to corroborate the validity of the morphological features.

• 出版日期2016-6