Background Homoscleromorpha is the fourth major sponge lineage, recently recognized to
be distinct from the Demospongiae. It contains< 100 described species of exclusively marine …

The two main scientific tasks of taxonomy are species' delineation and classification. These
two tasks are often treated differently, with classification accomplished by newly-developed …

Over the past few years, there has been growing interest among the sponge community in
the phylogenetic position of the Homoscleromorpha (ie within or outside the class …

Sponge classification has long been based mainly on morphocladistic analyses but is now
being greatly challenged by more than 12 years of accumulated analyses of molecular data …

Among the Porifera, the taxonomy and systematics of Homoscleromorpha is one of the most
challenging. Over the last two decades, this class and its single order Homosclerophorida …

Classification and phylogeny reconstruction in the Porifera is diYcult at all levels. The low
number and potential plasticity of morphological characters have meant a precise …

Background Demospongiae is the largest sponge class including 81% of all living sponges
with nearly 7,000 species worldwide. Systema Porifera (2002) was the result of a large …

The family Oscarellidae is one of the two families in the class Homoscleromorpha (phylum
Porifera) and is characterized by the absence of a skeleton and the presence of a specific …

Sponges (phylum Porifera) are a diverse taxon of benthic aquatic animals of great
ecological, commercial, and biopharmaceutical importance. They are arguably the earliest …

Background Demosponges are challenging for phylogenetic systematics because of their
plastic and relatively simple morphologies and many deep divergences between major …