Abstract
New material collected from the Western Pacific has necessitated a revision of family Podospongiidae and the establishment of two new genera, Neopodospongia gen. nov. md Diplopodospongia gen. nov. Neopodospongia gen. nov. was established for a group of sponges characterised by a leathery ectosome, strongyloxeas, aciculospinorhabds, and sigmoidal protospinorhabds. Diplopodospongia gen. nov., was established for a group of thinly encrusting deep-water sponges that have anisoxeas and dumbbell-shaped spinorhabds. Eight new species of Podospongiidae are described here: two species of Podospongia du Bocage, 1869; P. virga sp. nov., from northern New Zealand and P. colini sp. nov., from Indonesia, three species of Neopodospongia from New Zealand; N. pageigen. nov. sp. nov., N. bergquistae gen. nov. sp. nov., and N. exilis gen. nov. sp. nov., and three species of Diplopodospongia; D. rara gen. nov. sp. nov. and D. teliformis gen. nov. sp. nov. from New Zealand, and D. macquariensis gen. nov. sp. nov. fromthe Australian Exclusive Economic Zone surrounding Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean. In addition, the Irish encrusting sponge P. normani (Stephens 1915) has been reassigned to Neopodospongia gen. nov. An updated identification key to Podospongiidae genera is included.
NSTL