New Records and Range Extensions of Some Marine Sponges (Porifera:Demospongiae and Homoscleromorpha) from the Andaman Islands India; Part of theIndo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot

摘要

The present study reports seven newrecords of marine sponges from the Andaman Islands, India. Among them, six species arefrom the Class Demospongiae and one is from the Class Homoscleromorpha. These sevenspecies were earlier recorded from Australian and South-east Asian regions and islands inthe Indian Ocean. The current study documents the range extension of these sponges andhighlights the importance of filling the gaps in distributional patterns (Wallaceanshortfall). Out of the seven species, four species are reported here, from the Indianwaters, for the first time.