On the taxonomic position of the genus Parahigginsia (Porifera: Demospongiae), with the description of a new species and the first record of the genus from the North Pacific

V.A. Shilov, A.D. Kukhlevskiy & E.A. Nefedova

Abstract. A new species of the genus Parahigginsia Dendy, 1924 from the southern slope of the underwater Piip Volcano in the western Bering Sea, found at a depth of 981 m, is described. Previously, only two species of this genus were known, P. phakelloides Dendy, 1924 from the South Pacific and P. strongylifera Van Soest, Meesters et Becking, 2014 from the Caribbean. The discovery of P. beringiensis sp. nov. in the North Pacific extends the known distribution and depth ranges of Parahigginsia. Morphological comparison of the species from this genus has been conducted. The results of morphological examination and sequencing of the 18S and 28S rRNA genes indicate that the new species belongs to the order Suberitida and, most likely, to the family Halichondriidae.

Key words: Northwest Pacific, Bering Sea, Piip Volcano, Porifera, Demospongiae, Suberitida, Halichondriidae, Parahigginsia, new species

Zoosystematica Rossica, 2025, 34(2): 298–311 ▪ Published online 15 December 2025

https://doi.org/10.31610/zsr/2025.34.2.298 ▪ Open full article

Electronic supplementary materials

Electronic supplementary material 1

The list of the primers used and their annealing temperature in the amplification reaction. File format: PDF.

Electronic supplementary material 2

Phylogenetic trees of the subclass Heteroscleromorpha based on the sequences of the 18S rRNA gene using the NJ (Geneious) and ML (IQTREE Web Server) methods. File format: NEWICK, SVG, as 7Z archive.

Electronic supplementary material 3

Phylogenetic tree of the subclass Heteroscleromorpha based on the sequences of the 28S rRNA gene (D3–D5 region) using the ML method (IQTREE Web Server). File format: NEWICK, SVG, JPEG, as 7Z archive.

Electronic supplementary material 4

Phylogenetic tree of the subclass Heteroscleromorpha based on the sequences of the 28S rRNA gene (D6–D8 region) using the ML method (IQTREE Web Server). File format: NEWICK, SVG, JPEG, as 7Z archive.

Electronic supplementary material 5

Phylogenetic tree of the subclass Heteroscleromorpha based on the sequences of the 28S rRNA gene (D3–D8 region) using the ML (IQTREE Web Server) and BA (Geneious) methods. Numbers at nodes are bootstrap supports for ML/BA trees. File format: JPEG, as 7Z archive.

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