THE VALUE OF CYTOLOGICAL CRITERIA IN DISTINGUISHING SPONGES AT THE SPECIES LEVEL - THE EXAMPLE OF THE GENUS POLYMASTIA

We examined the value of using cytological criteria for sponge taxonom y within the well-defined genus Polymastia and redescribe the species Polymastia janeirensis comb.nov. Comparison of the anatomical, morphol ogical, and skeletal characteristics of P. janeirensis with those of t he 17 other known Atlantic species demonstrated that P. janeirensis is closely related to P. agglutinans and P. mammillaris. The study confi rmed that the close relationship between P. janeirensis and P. mammill aris can also be recognized at the cytological level. We conclude that cytological criteria can be used for the identification of sponges at the species level, and that these criteria may provide useful informa tion about phylogenetic relationships among sponges belonging to gener a with many species and a wide geographical distribution.