Abstract
Raspailiidae Hentschel (Demospongiae, Poecilosclerida), including Euryponidae Topsent, contains 60 nominal genera of which 19 are valid (one incertae sedis), with 7 subgenera, and approximately 270 named species worldwide, mainly from shallow waters and a few from abyssal depths. Species have a typically hispid surface, with genera differentiated mainly on the basis of three morphological characters: skeletal architecture ranging from axial compression to reticulate, plumo-reticulate or plumose skeletons; the presence or absence of a specialized ectosomal skeleton (apomorphic for the family, whereby small ectosomal megascleres form bouquets surrounding the longer choanosomal or subectosomal megascleres that penetrate the surface); and geometric modifications to echinating megascleres (with about 15 distinct morphologies recognised). Five new subfamilies are established, based on geometry of echinating megascleres and skeletal structure.
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© 2002 Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers, New York
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Hooper, J.N.A. (2002). Family Raspailiidae Hentschel, 1923. In: Hooper, J.N.A., Van Soest, R.W.M., Willenz, P. (eds) Systema Porifera. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0747-5_53
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0747-5_53
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-306-47260-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-0747-5
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