First record of the sponge genera Crambe and Discorhabdella for the eastern Pacific, with description of three new species

This dataset contains the digitized treatments in Plazi based on the original journal article Maldonado, Manuel, Carmona, M. Carmen, Van Soest, Rob W. M., Pomponi, Shirley A. (2001): First record of the sponge genera Crambe and Discorhabdella for the eastern Pacific, with description of three new species. Journal of Natural History 35 (9): 1261-1276, DOI: 10.1080/002229301750384293, URL: doi.org/10.1080/002229301750384293 Three new sponge species are described from the Pacific coast of Panama, namely Crambe panamensis n. sp., Discorhabdella urizae n. sp. and Discorhabdella littoralis n. sp.

This is the fi rst record of the genera Crambe and Discorhabdella for the eastern Pacific, which represents not only a considerable expansion in their known biogeographical distribution, but also empirical support for their Tethyan origin. The new species provide a better understanding of the skeletal evolution in these peculiar genera, representing a lineage in which aster-derived spicules occur within a typical poecilosclerid skeleton.