New Species of Demospongiae (Porifera) from the National Park “Archipiélago de los Roques”, Venezuela

Abstract

Three new species of Demospongiae from coral reefs of the Archipiélago de Los Roques National Park (Venezuelan Caribbean) and Curaçao (Netherlands Antilles) are described, viz. Eurypon laughlini n. sp., Topsentia roquensis n. sp., and Epipolasis reiswigi n. sp. The new species and the genera to which they have been assigned are discussed, as a result of which the genus Fasubera De Laubenfels, 1936, is synonymized with Eurypon Gray, 1867, and the genus Epipolasis is redefined based on characters of its typespecies. Extensive ecological data are provided for each species.