Family PSEUDOCERATINIDAE Carter, 1885

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Introduction

The Pseudoceratinidae Carter, 1885 (formerly Druinellidae Lendenfeld, 1889) include sponges in which the fibre skeleton, which is sparse, is dendritic, is made up of fibres with no investing bark, simply pith elements which are usually clear, but which occasionally can incorporate isolated fragments of debris. The fibres are extremely irregular, knotted in places, expanding and contracting along their length and below the surface fanning out in brushes. Pigmentation is uniform throughout the sponge, the surface is conulose and the texture rubbery, flexible in ramose forms, tending to incompressible in massive species.

Four nominal genera are included in the family (sensu Bergquist & Cook 2002), of which only one is considered to be valid.

Bergquist et al. (1991) initially suggested biochemical heterogeneity between species of Druinella, Psammaplysilla and Pseudoceratina, based on sterol composition, indicated that the latter two genera should be included in a separate family (Aplysinellidae Bergquist, 1980), leaving only Druinella in the Druinellidae (=Pseudoceratinidae). Morphological differences that supported sterol characteristics consisted of a dendritic dense skeleton in the Druinellidae, where fibres have knotted irregular interlacing protuberances of the bark component (Bergquist et al. 1991), whereas in Apysinellidae pith elements are present in fibres sometimes to the exclusion of bark (Bergquist 1980). Later (Bergquist 1995) synonymised all three genera, and in the most recent revision (Bergquist & Cook 2002) discusses the taxonomic history and characteristics of the group.

Pseudoceratinidae Carter, 1885 has priority over Druinellidae Lendenfeld, 1889, based on Carter's (1885) creation of the higher taxon Pseudoceratida.

Diagnosis

Verongida in which the fibre skeleton, which is sparse, is dendritic, is made up of fibres with no investing bark, simply pith elements which are usually clear, but which occasionally can incorporate isolated fragments of debris. The fibres are extremely irregular, knotted in places, expanding and contracting along their length and below the surface fanning out in brushes. Pigmentation is uniform throughout the sponge, the surface is conulose and the texture rubbery, flexible in ramose forms, tending to incompressible in massive species.

Diagnosis References

Bergquist, P.R. & Cook, S.D.C. 2002. Family Pseudoceratinidae Carter, 1885. pp. 1086-1088 in Hooper, J.N.A. & van Soest, R.W.M. (eds). Systema Porifera: A guide to the classification of sponges. New York : Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers Vol. 1. [1086]

General References

Bergquist, P.R. 1995. Dictyoceratida, Dendroceratida and Verongida from the New Caledonia Lagoon (Porifera: Demospongiae). Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 38(1): 1-51

Bergquist, P.R. & Cook, S.D.C. 2002. Family Pseudoceratinidae Carter, 1885. pp. 1086-1088 in Hooper, J.N.A. & van Soest, R.W.M. (eds). Systema Porifera: A guide to the classification of sponges. New York : Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers Vol. 1.

History of changes