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Thoosa calpulli Carballo, Cruz-Barraza & G��mez, 2004 Material examined. ICMYL.Tca.140.E: Bah��a Culebra, 5 m, 12. II.2011, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. ICMARES. UES.CI.72: Playa el Faro, Los C��banos, El Salvador, External morphology. Endolithic sponge in alpha morphology. Material not sufficient to allow full description of external characters. Live color yellow. Excavation. No data available. Spicules. Megascleres as oxeas, spined or smooth, centrotylote or simple (Fig. 32). According to length, two types of oxeas. Smaller oxea dimensions: 27.5���101.5 (x=��54.7, ��=18.1) x 1.5���9 ��m (x=��4.8, ��=2.1); larger oxea dimensions: 110���297 ��m (x��=196.2, ��=69.1) x 3.5���13 ��m (x��=8.2, ��=3.2). Microscleres as oxyaster derivates and amphiasters (Fig. 31, 32). Smooth oxyasters with actines extending from nodular centre, form variable depending on number of actines, ranging between two and four (V-shaped biactine, triactine or tetractine). Dimensions of oxyaster actines: 17.5���51 ��m (x��=31.1, ��=9.4) x 1���4 ��m (x��=1.9, ��=0.8). Amphiasters with five or six actines with microspination on each axis, actine tips coniform or as branch terminating in groups of spines or hooks. Depending on actine lengths, amphiasters symmetric or asymmetric. Amphiaster length from tip to tip 7.9���17.3 ��m (x��=12.9, ��=3.5), axis width 1.0���2.2 ��m (x��=1.6, ��=0.4), actine length 1���5 ��m (x��=3.6, ��=1.5). Ecology. Found at 5 m depth. Distribution and previous records. T. calpulli was described by Carballo et al. (2004) from Nayarit, Mexican Pacific. In this study it was found in El Salvador and Costa Rica (Fig. 33). This represents new records for the two countries, as well as for Central America. Remarks. The characteristic ornamentation of amphiasters with conical spines, and the spicular complex with tylostyles, oxyasters and centrotylotes oxeas distinguished this species from other Thoosa (Carballo et al. 2004)., Published as part of Pacheco, Cristian, Carballo, Jos�� Luis, Cort��s, Jorge, Segovia, Johanna & Trejo, Alejandra, 2018, Excavating sponges from the Pacific of Central America, descriptions and a faunistic record, pp. 451-491 in Zootaxa 4370 (5) on pages 478-480, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4370.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1147211, {"references":["Carballo, J. L., Cruz-Barraza, J. A. & Gomez, P. (2004) Taxonomy and description of clionaid sponges (Hadromerida, Clionaidae) from the Pacific Ocean of Mexico. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 141, 353 - 397. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1096 - 3642.2004.00126. x","Calcinai, B., Bavestrello, G., Cuttone, G. & Cerrano, C. (2011) Excavating sponges from the Adriatic Sea: description of Cliona adriatica sp. nov. (Demospongiae: Clionaidae) and estimation of its boring activity. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 91, 339 - 346. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / s 0025315410001050"]}

Cliona pocillopora Bautista-Guerrero, Carballo, Cruz-Barraza & Nava, 2006 Material examined. MZUCR.375: Parque Nacional Isla del Coco, 14 m, 4.XI.2011, coll. Jeffrey Sibaja Cordero. Cpo. 23.E: Playa Esmeralda, Bah��a Salinas, 5 m, 18.XII.2012, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. ICMARES. UES.CI.69: Playa el Faro, Los C��banos, El Salvador, External morphology. Endolithic sponge in alpha morphology. Small circular papillae on average 600 ��m in diameter. Live color not recorded. Excavation. Multicamerate erosion. Chambers with average diameter of 860 ��m (Fig. 16A). Erosion scars 15���66 ��m in diameter, with occasional circular ridges and sharp edges (Fig. 16B). Spicules. Megascleres as small tylostyles and derivates, mostly with subterminal tyles, occasionally far displaced or duplicated, forming tylostyles, tylostrongyles, subtylostyles, and sometimes centrotylote derivates (Fig. 17). Tylostyle dimensions: 72���253 ��m (x��=146.7, ��=48.0) x 2���16 ��m (x��=6.8, ��=3.3). Ecology. Found in Pavona sp. at 14 m depth. Distribution and previous records. The species was described from the Mexican Pacific (Bautista-Guerrero et al. 2006) and again reported from the same area (Carballo et al. 2008a). The present specimen was collected at Isla del Coco, off Costa Rica and in El Salvador (Fig. 18). Our findings represent a new record for Central America, in particular for El Salvador and Costa Rica. Remarks. As this species was only recently described in good detail (Bautista-Guerrero et al. 2006), we only provided a short taxonomic account. The tylostyles of C. pocillopora are comparatively short for a clionaid sponge and characteristic in shape, making this identification easy to perform., Published as part of Pacheco, Cristian, Carballo, Jos�� Luis, Cort��s, Jorge, Segovia, Johanna & Trejo, Alejandra, 2018, Excavating sponges from the Pacific of Central America, descriptions and a faunistic record, pp. 451-491 in Zootaxa 4370 (5) on page 467, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4370.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1147211, {"references":["Bautista-Guerrero, E., Carballo, J. L., Cruz-Barraza, J. A. & Nava, H. H. (2006) New coral reef boring sponges (Hadromerida: Clionaidae) from the Mexican Pacific Ocean. Journal of Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 86, 963 - 970. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / S 0025315406013932","Carballo, J. L., Cruz-Barraza, J. A., Nava, H. & Bautista, E. (2008 a) Esponjas perforadoras de sustratos calcareos: importancia en los ecosistemas arrecifales del Pacifico este. CONABIO, Mexico City, 187 pp."]}

Cliona amplicavata R��tzler, 1974 Material examined. MZUCR.368: Bah��a Salinas, 15 m, 3.III.2011, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. CIMAR.CU.12: Bah��a Culebra, 3 m, 28.VI.2011, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. MZUCR.369: Playa Mantas, 3 m, 11.IV.2011, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. MZUCR 370, MZUCR 372: Playa Mantas, intertidal, 16.IX.2011, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. CIMAR.LF.01: Reserva La Flor, 3 m, 14.II.2012, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. External morphology. Alpha morphology, discrete, circular papillae, no tendency for merging observed, 0.5���1 mm in diameter. Live color ochre. Excavation. Multicamerare erosion with oval chambers, separated by walls commonly about 200 ��m thick (Fig. 2A). Largest observed chamber 4.6 x 3.6 mm. Sponge-generated erosion scars forming continuous pitting on chamber walls, pits sharp-edged and 36���90 mm in diameter (Fig. 2B). Spicules. Megascleres tylostyles in two size classes, with the larger roughly twice as long as the shorter. Larger type slightly curved at mid-shaft, with well-formed tyles, often slightly subterminal. Smaller type slightly curved in lower third, with strongly displaced, subtle tyles, or styles. Microscleres thin, hastate raphides, slightly curved midshaft. Spicule dimensions: tylostyles 115���282 ��m (x=��229.6, ��=37.4) x 1 ���7.5 ��m (x=��5.2, ��=1.9); styles 80���156 ��m (x��=121, ��=17.0) x 2.5���4.5 ��m (x��=3.7, ��=0.8), raphides 65���140 ��m (x��=89.6, ��=18.2) (Fig. 3). Ecology. Found in massive and branching corals: in live Pavona gigantea Verrill, 1869, and in fragments of dead Porites lobata Dana, 1846 and Pocillopora sp., between 3 and 15 m depth. Distribution and previous records. The species was described by R��tzler (1974) from Bermuda, growing in dead Diploria sp. and Montastrea sp., and is also known from the Caribbean (R��tzler et al. 2014) and the Gulf of Mexico (Ugalde et al. 2015). Accounts from the Mediterranean (Rosell & Uriz 2002) are considered as inaccurate (Soest et al. 2016). Carballo et al. (2004) first reported C. amplicavata in the ETP, found along the Mexican coast, excavating Pocillopora sp. and mollusk shells (Carballo et al. 2008a, 2008b). This distribution range is presently extended for the Pacific to Central America: Nicaragua and Costa Rica (Fig. 4). Remarks. Only few Cliona species have a spicule complement combining tylostyles and raphides, including C. amplicavata, Cliona dissimilis Ridley & Dendy, 1886, Cliona raphida Boury-Esnault, 1973, and maybe erroneously Cliona cf. celata Grant, 1826 (e.g. Sch��nberg 2000; discussed in Rosell & Uriz 2002). It is presently not known whether raphides in some Cliona species represent immature stages of tylostyles or are raphides in the true sense (e.g. Cust��dio et al. 2002). Therefore, the taxonomic value of raphides remains uncertain for some clionaids. However, the regular and size-uniform appearance of the thin oxeate spicules in our samples suggested that here they signified a separate spicule type. We presently exclude C. cf. celata sensu Sch��nberg (2000) from further considerations. While this species also occurs in the Pacific and has very similar spicule dimensions, as well as erosion traces with several chambers, it does not have tylostyles in two size classes. C. dissimilis is also an Indo-Pacific species with similar, if possibly slightly larger tylostyles than in our material, but it has consistently been described as being dark orange or bright red and in beta growth (Ridley & Dendy 1886; Fromont et al. 2005). Fromont et al. (2005) did not report tylostyles in two size classes. The Atlantic C. raphida was described as brown and appears to have larger tylostyles and shorter raphides than in our West Pacific specimens (Boury-Esnault 1973). Again, C. raphida is not known for two sizes of megascleres. Tylostyle dimensions from our material best resemble those of C. amplicavata from Bermuda and the Gulf of Mexico (R��tzler 1974; Ugalde et al. 2015), and Mexican Pacific sponges conspecific with our samples were previously identified as C. amplicavata (Carballo et al. 2004, 2008a; Vega 2012). However, after closer inspection it became clear that the specimens from Bermuda had tylostyles with a slightly larger size range (R��tzler et al. 2014). In addition, C. amplicavata erosion traces were described to consist of predominantly single, large erosion chambers, not well matching our observations. However, while this was not noted in the original description, C. amplicavata appears to have two size classes of tylostyles (see Fig. 22 in R��tzler 1 974). The Mediterranean Cliona adriatica Calcinai et al., 2011 has tylostyles and styles like in our material, with the smaller styles forming the external skeleton, the palisade (Calcinai et al. 2011). We have not confirmed the distribution of the different spicule types in our samples, but the spicule dimensions of C. adriatica appear too large to match our material, and it was not reported to have raphides. Its excavation chambers are also smaller than those in our samples. At this stage C. amplicavata is the best taxonomic match with our material. Some characters in our samples were not quite as originally described, with the Pacific material being ochre, the Atlantic material yellow, and the Pacific papillae and erosion chambers comparatively small and raphides short. However, discrepancies were not very strong, and they can be explained with morphologic plasticity that can be caused by different environmental conditions (Rosell & Uriz 1991; Bavestrello et al. 1993; Hill 1999). The occurrence of two size classes of megascleres in Atlantic (Fig. 22 in R��tzler 1974) and Pacific specimens (Carballo et al. 2004; Ugalde et al. 2015) compelled us to follow the earlier examples and to identify our sponges as C. amplicavata. The present decision would suggest that C. amplicavata crossed the isthmus, which may have occurred by opening the Panama Canal. This is however not a common occurrence (Laubenfels 1936), and a previous molecular study on excavating sponges in this area identified separate cryptic species rather than conspecifity of sponge populations on the Atlantic and Pacific sides of Central America (e.g. Boury-Esnault et al. 1999). Future studies should include molecular analyses to confirm or reject this possibility (see Nichols & Barnes 2005)., Published as part of Pacheco, Cristian, Carballo, Jos�� Luis, Cort��s, Jorge, Segovia, Johanna & Trejo, Alejandra, 2018, Excavating sponges from the Pacific of Central America, descriptions and a faunistic record, pp. 451-491 in Zootaxa 4370 (5) on pages 454-457, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4370.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1147211, {"references":["Rutzler, K. (1974) The burrowing sponges of Bermuda. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 165, 1 - 32. https: // doi. org / 10.5479 / si. 00810282.165","Rutzler, K., Piantoni, C., Soest, R. W. M. van & Diaz, M. C. (2014) Diversity of sponges (Porifera) from cryptic habitats on the Belize Barrier Reef near Carrie Bow Cay. Zootaxa, 3805 (1), 1 - 129. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 3805.1.1","Ugalde, D., Gomez, P. & Simoes, N. (2015) Marine sponges (Porifera: Demospongiae) from the Gulf of Mexico, new records and redescription of Erylus trisphaerus (Laubenfels, 1953). Zootaxa, 3911 (2), 151 - 183. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 3911.2.1","Rosell, D. & Uriz, M. J. (2002) Excavating and endolithic sponge species (Porifera from the Mediterranean: species descriptions and identification key. Organisms Diversity & Evolution, 2, 55 - 86. https: // doi. org / 10.1078 / 1439 - 6092 - 00033","Soest, R. W. M. van, Boury-Esnault, N., Hooper, J. N. A., Rutzler, K., Voogd, N. J. de, Alvarez de Glasby, B., Hajdu, E., Pisera, A. B., Manconi, R., Schonberg, C. H. L., Klautau, M., Picton, B., Kelly, M., Vacelet, J., Dohrmann, M., Diaz, M. C., Cardenas, P. & Carballo, J. L. (2016) World Porifera Database. Available from: http: // www. marinespecies. org / porifera (accessed 10 December 2016)","Carballo, J. L., Cruz-Barraza, J. A. & Gomez, P. (2004) Taxonomy and description of clionaid sponges (Hadromerida, Clionaidae) from the Pacific Ocean of Mexico. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 141, 353 - 397. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1096 - 3642.2004.00126. x","Carballo, J. L., Cruz-Barraza, J. A., Nava, H. & Bautista, E. (2008 a) Esponjas perforadoras de sustratos calcareos: importancia en los ecosistemas arrecifales del Pacifico este. CONABIO, Mexico City, 187 pp.","Carballo, J. L., Bautista-Guerrero, E. & Leyte-Morales, G. E. (2008 b) Boring sponges and the modeling of coral reefs in the east Pacific Ocean. Marine Ecology Progress Serie s, 356, 113 - 1 22. https: // doi. org / 10.3354 / meps 07276","Ridley, S. O. & Dendy A. (1886) Preliminary report on the Monaxonida collcted by H. M. S. ' Challenger'. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 107, 325 - 351, 470 - 493. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 00222938609459982","Boury-Esnault, N. (1973) Resultats scientifiques des Campagnes de la ' Calypso' X. Campagne de la ' Calypso' au large des cotes atlantiques de l'Amerique du Sud (1961 - 1962). I. 29. Spongiaires. Annales de l'Institut Oceanographique, 49, 263 - 295.","Schonberg, C. H. L. (2000) Bioeroding sponges common to the Central Australian Great Barrier Reef: descriptions of three new species, two new records, and additions to two previously described species. Senckenbergiana Maritima, 30, 161 - 221. https: // doi. org / 10.1007 / bf 03042965","Custodio, M. R., Hajdu, E. & Muricy, G. (2002) In vivo study of microsclere formation in sponges of the genus Mycale (Demospongiae, Poecilosclerida). Zoomorphology, 121, 203 - 2 11. https: // doi. org / 10.1007 / s 00435 - 002 - 0057 - 9","Fromont, J., Craig, R., Rawlinson, L. & Alder, J. (2005) Excavating sponges that are destructive to farmed pearl oysters in Western and Northern Australia. Aquaculture Research, 36, 150 - 1 62. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1365 - 2109.2004.01198. x","Vega, C. (2012) Composicion y afinidades biogeograficas de esponjas (Demospongiae) asociadas a comunidades coralinas del Pacifico Mexicano. Doctoral thesis, Instituto Politecnico Nacional, Mexico, 231 pp.","Calcinai, B., Bavestrello, G., Cuttone, G. & Cerrano, C. (2011) Excavating sponges from the Adriatic Sea: description of Cliona adriatica sp. nov. (Demospongiae: Clionaidae) and estimation of its boring activity. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 91, 339 - 346. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / s 0025315410001050","Rosell, D. & Uriz, M. J. (1991) Cliona viridis (Schmidt, 1862) and Cliona nigricans (Schmidt, 1862) (Porifera, Hadromerida): evidence which shows they are the same species. Ophelia, 33, 45 - 53. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 00785326.1991.10429741","Bavestrello, G., Bonito, M. & Sara, M. (1993) Influence of depth on the size of sponge spicules. Scientia Marina, 57, 415 - 4 20.","Hill, M. S. (1999) Morphological and genetic examination of phenotypic variability in the tropical sponge Anthosigmella varians. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, 44, 234 - 247.","Laubenfels, M. W. de (1936) A comparison of the shallow-water sponges near the Pacific end of the Panama Canal with those at the Caribbean end. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 83, 441 - 466. https: // doi. org / 10.5479 / si. 00963801.83 - 2993.441","Boury-Esnault, N., Klautau, M., Bezac, C., Wulff, J. & Sole-Cava, A. M. (1999) Comparative study of putative conspecific sponge populations from both sides of the Isthmus of Panama. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 79, 39 - 50. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / s 0025315498000046","Nichols, S. A. & Barnes, P. A. (2005) A molecular phylogeny and historical biogeography of the marine sponge genus Placospongia (Phylum Porifera) indicate low dispersal capabilities and widespread crypsis. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 323, 1 - 5. https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / j. jembe. 2005.02.012"]}

Genus Siphonodictyon Bergquist, 1965 Synonymy. Acca Johnson, 1899, preoccupied by Acca H��bner, 1819 (Lepidoptera) (following Soest 2011 in Soest et al. 2016). Aka Laubenfels, 1936, preoccupied by Aka White, 1879 (Fulgoromorpha) (following Sch��nberg & Soest 2012 in Soest et al. 2016). Siphonodictyon Bergquist, 1965. Diagnosis. Excavating sponges in papillate or fistulate morphology, former with porous excavation, latter usually with larger cavities. Choanosomal skeleton unordered or forming sinuous bands of spicule fibres. Densely anastomosing fibres in fistules. Spicules curved oxeas, no microscleres. Commonly mucoid (adapted from Desqueyroux-Fa��ndez & Valentine 2002)., Published as part of Pacheco, Cristian, Carballo, Jos�� Luis, Cort��s, Jorge, Segovia, Johanna & Trejo, Alejandra, 2018, Excavating sponges from the Pacific of Central America, descriptions and a faunistic record, pp. 451-491 in Zootaxa 4370 (5) on page 483, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4370.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1147211, {"references":["Soest, R. W. M. van, Boury-Esnault, N., Hooper, J. N. A., Rutzler, K., Voogd, N. J. de, Alvarez de Glasby, B., Hajdu, E., Pisera, A. B., Manconi, R., Schonberg, C. H. L., Klautau, M., Picton, B., Kelly, M., Vacelet, J., Dohrmann, M., Diaz, M. C., Cardenas, P. & Carballo, J. L. (2016) World Porifera Database. Available from: http: // www. marinespecies. org / porifera (accessed 10 December 2016)","Laubenfels, M. W. de (1936) A comparison of the shallow-water sponges near the Pacific end of the Panama Canal with those at the Caribbean end. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 83, 441 - 466. https: // doi. org / 10.5479 / si. 00963801.83 - 2993.441","Schonberg, C. H. L. & Wisshak, M. (2012) The perks of being endolithic. Aquatic Biology, 17, 1 - 5. https: // doi. org / 10.3354 / ab 00473","Desqueyroux-Faundez, R. & Valentine, C. (2002) Family Phloeodictyidae Carter, 1882. In: Hooper, J. N. A. & Soest, R. W. M. van (Eds.), Systema Porifera. Vol. 1. A Guide to the Classification of Sponges. Academic / Plenum, New York, pp. 893 - 905. https: // doi. org / 10.1007 / 978 - 1 - 4615 - 0747 - 5 _ 94"]}

Cliona vermifera Hancock, 1867 Material examined. CIMAR.CU.06, CIMAR.CU.8(I), CIMAR.CU.09(I), CIMAR.CU.09(IIa) MZUCR.381: Bahía Culebra, 10m, 21.III.2011, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. CIMAR. CU.122, CIMAR.CU.123, CIMAR.CU.200, CIMAR.CU.201: Bahía Culebra, 10 m, 28.VI.2011, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. MZUCR. 383, MZUCR.384, CIMAR.IC.21.1, CIMAR.IC.34.1: Isla del Caño, 5 m, 12. II.2011, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. N /A: Playa el Faro, Los Cóbanos, El Salvador, External morphology. Endolithic sponge in alpha morphology. Circular papillae 1 mm in diameter. Live color orange. Excavation. Erosion multicamerate. Oval or irregular chambers with diameters of 1 to 3 mm, occasionally fused. Erosion scars 35–53 µm in diameter, very smooth, with sharp edges (Fig. 20). Spicules. Megascleres as tylostyles in two size classes, microscleres helical rods (Fig. 21). Tylostyle dimensions: 100–294 µm (x̅=195.1, σ=54.8) x 1–12 µm (x̅=5.3, σ=3.0). Spiraster dimensions: 25–65 µm (x̅=41.9, σ=9.8) x 1–12 (x̅=3.9, σ=1.6) µm. Previous records. Carballo et al. (2008a) and Vega (2012) sampled C. vermifera in the Mexican Pacific. Guzmán (1988) further reported it from Costa Rica. Our account is a new record for El Salvador. Ecology. It was found in dead coral of genus Pocillopora and Porites, from 5 to 10 m depth. C. vermifera is the most abundant excavating sponge in the ETP and is thus of considerable importance to local bioerosion (Carballo et al. 2008b; Vega 2012). Distribution and previous records. The species was described by Hancock (1867) without indication of the type locality. It has since been widely reported, from the Mediterranean Sea (Volz 1939; Bertolino et al. 2013), Eastern Atlantic Ocean (Carballo et al. 1994), Caribbean (Topsent 1889, Hechtel 1965; Rützler 1974; Ward & Risk 1977), Mexican Pacific (Carter 2009; Carballo et al. 2004, 2008a; Vega 2012), the Western Pacific (Schönberg 2001), and Indian Ocean (Topsent 1932). Scott et al. (1988) found this species in Costa Rica, and we did additionally in El Salvador (Fig. 22). Remarks. Due to its characteristic microscleres and its two size classes of tylostyles (Fig. 21), C. vermifera has always been regarded as easy to identify, and it has been reported from warm waters across the whole world (Schönberg et al. 2017). Traditionally, C. vermifera was thought to be cosmopolitan (e.g. Schönberg et al. 2006). However, due to recent discoveries of taxonomically cryptic species within the Clionaida (Boury-Esnault et al. 1999; Xavier et al. 2010, Paula et al. 2012), such “cosmopolitan” species are now treated with more caution and are increasingly reviewed. A recent publication by León-Pech et al. (2015) showed that dispersal abilities of C. vermifera were limited in the Mexican Pacific, which suggests that this species could also be a species complex. We were unable to resolve this taxonomically and treated C. vermifera as one species., Published as part of Pacheco, Cristian, Carballo, José Luis, Cortés, Jorge, Segovia, Johanna & Trejo, Alejandra, 2018, Excavating sponges from the Pacific of Central America, descriptions and a faunistic record, pp. 451-491 in Zootaxa 4370 (5) on pages 468-470, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4370.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1147211, {"references":["Hancock, A. (1867) Note on the excavating sponges; with descriptions of four new species. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 19, 229 - 242.","Calcinai, B., Bavestrello, G., Cuttone, G. & Cerrano, C. (2011) Excavating sponges from the Adriatic Sea: description of Cliona adriatica sp. nov. (Demospongiae: Clionaidae) and estimation of its boring activity. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 91, 339 - 346. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / s 0025315410001050","Carballo, J. L., Cruz-Barraza, J. A., Nava, H. & Bautista, E. (2008 a) Esponjas perforadoras de sustratos calcareos: importancia en los ecosistemas arrecifales del Pacifico este. CONABIO, Mexico City, 187 pp.","Vega, C. (2012) Composicion y afinidades biogeograficas de esponjas (Demospongiae) asociadas a comunidades coralinas del Pacifico Mexicano. Doctoral thesis, Instituto Politecnico Nacional, Mexico, 231 pp.","Guzman, H. M. (1988) Distribucion y abundancia de organismos coralivoros en los arrecifes coralinos de la Isla del Cano, Costa Rica. Revista de Biologia Tropical, 36, 191 - 207.","Carballo, J. L., Bautista-Guerrero, E. & Leyte-Morales, G. E. (2008 b) Boring sponges and the modeling of coral reefs in the east Pacific Ocean. Marine Ecology Progress Serie s, 356, 113 - 1 22. https: // doi. org / 10.3354 / meps 07276","Volz, P. (1939) Die Bohrschwamme (Clioniden) der Adria. Thalassia, 3, 1 - 64.","Bertolino, M., Cerrano, C., Bavestrello, G., Carella, M., Pansini, M. & Calcinai, B. (2013) Diversity of Porifera in the Mediterranean coralligenous accretions, with description of a new species. ZooKeys, 336, 1 - 37. https: // doi. org / 10.3897 / zookeys. 336.5139","Carballo, J. L., Sanchez-Moyano, J. E. & Garcia-Gomez, J. C. (1994) Taxonomic and ecological remarks on boring sponges (Clionidae) from the Straits of Gibraltar (Southern Spain): tentative bioindicators? Zoological Journal of Linnean Society, 112, 407 - 424. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1096 - 3642.1994. tb 00329. x","Topsent, E. (1889) Quelques spongiaires du Banc de Campeche et de la Pointe-a-Pitre. Memoires de la Societe Zoologie de France, 8, 1 - 331.","Hechtel, G. J. (1965) A systematic study of the Demospongiae of Port Royal, Jamaica. Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, 20, 1 - 103.","Rutzler, K. (1974) The burrowing sponges of Bermuda. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 165, 1 - 32. https: // doi. org / 10.5479 / si. 00810282.165","Ward, P. & Risk, M. J. (1977) Boring pattern of the sponge Cliona vermifera in the coral Montastrea annularis. Journal of Paleontology, 51, 520 - 526.","Carter, H. J. (2009) Some sponges from the West Indies and Acapulco in the Liverpool Free Museum described, with general and classificatory remarks. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 9, 266 - 301. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 00222938209459039","Carballo, J. L., Cruz-Barraza, J. A. & Gomez, P. (2004) Taxonomy and description of clionaid sponges (Hadromerida, Clionaidae) from the Pacific Ocean of Mexico. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 141, 353 - 397. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1096 - 3642.2004.00126. x","Schonberg, C. H. L. (2001) Small-scale distribution of Great Barrier Reef bioeroding sponges in shallow water. Ophelia, 55, 39 - 54. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 00785236.2001.10409472","Topsent, E. (1932) Notes sur les Clionides. Archives de Zoologie Experimentale et Generale, 74, 549 - 579.","Scott, P. J. B., Risk, M. J. & Carriquiry, J. D. (1988) El Nino, bioerosion and the survival of East Pacific reefs. Proceedings of the 6 th International Coral Reef Symposium, Australia, 2, 517 - 520.","Schonberg, C. H. L., Grass, S. & Heiermann, A. T. (2006) Cliona minuscula, sp. nov. (Hadromerida: Clionaidae) and other bioeroding sponges that only contain tylostyles. Zootaxa, 1312, 1 - 24.","Boury-Esnault, N., Klautau, M., Bezac, C., Wulff, J. & Sole-Cava, A. M. (1999) Comparative study of putative conspecific sponge populations from both sides of the Isthmus of Panama. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 79, 39 - 50. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / s 0025315498000046","Xavier, J. R., Rachello-Dolmen, P. G., Parra-Velandia, F., Schonberg, C. H. L., Breeuwer, J. A. & Soest, R. W. M. van (2010) Molecular evidence of cryptic speciation in the \" cosmopolitan \" excavating sponge Cliona celata (Porifera, Clionaidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 56, 13 - 20.","Paula, T. S. de, Zilberberg, C., Hajdu, E. & Lobo-Hajdu, G. (2012) Morphology and molecules on opposite sides of the diversity gradient: Four cryptic species of the Cliona celata (Porifera, Demospongiae) complex in South America revealed by mitochondrial and nuclear markers. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 62, 529 - 5 41. https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / j. ympev. 2011.11.001","Leon-Pech, M. G., Cruz-Barraza, J. A., Carballo, J. L., Calderon-Aguilera, L. E. & Rocha-Olivares, A. (2015) Pervasive genetic structure at different geographic scales in the coral-excavating sponge Cliona vermifera (Hancock, 1867) in the Mexican Pacific. Coral Reefs, 34, 887 - 8 97. https: // doi. org / 10.1007 / s 00338 - 015 - 1316 - 9"]}

Genus Cliothosa Topsent, 1905 Synonymy. Thoosa sensu Topsent, 1888. Diagnosis. Excavating sponges in alpha morphology with large tylostyles and amphiasters. Amphiasters most commonly delicately branching, slim-rayed, with terminal branching, but less fragile forms in different species. Only in choanosome. Reduced forms of amphiasters occasionally in papillae or terminally in blind erosion canals. Occurrence and predominance of different amphiaster types depending on specimens or species (adapted from R��tzler 2002)., Published as part of Pacheco, Cristian, Carballo, Jos�� Luis, Cort��s, Jorge, Segovia, Johanna & Trejo, Alejandra, 2018, Excavating sponges from the Pacific of Central America, descriptions and a faunistic record, pp. 451-491 in Zootaxa 4370 (5) on page 471, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4370.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1147211, {"references":["Topsent, E. (1888) Contribution a l´etude des Clionides. Archives de Zoologie Experimentale et Generale, 5, 1 - 165.","Rutzler, K. (2002) Family Clionaidae D'Orbigny, 1851. In: Hooper, J. N. A. & Soest, R. W. M. van (Eds.), Systema Porifera. Vol. 1. A Guide to the Classification of Sponges. Academic / Plenum, New York, pp. 173 - 185. https: // doi. org / 10.1007 / 978 - 1 - 4615 - 0747 - 5 _ 19"]}

Siphonodictyon crypticum (Carballo, Hepburn, Nava, Cruz-Barraza & Bautísta-Guerrero, 2007) Material examined. ICMARES.UES.CI.71: Playa el Faro, Los Cóbanos, El Salvador, 1.5 m, 24.X.2016, coll. Sofía Solórzano, det. José Luis Carballo. External morphology. Endolithic sponge with three small fistulose tubes of 1.8 x 0.9 cm approximately (Fig. 37). Color of fistules and choanosome white in life. Excavation. Erosion extended multicamerate. Sponge scars with faint concentric ridges characteristic for Siphonodictyon (Fig. 38A), diameters between 35 and 85 µm. Spicules. Megascleres smooth, acerate oxeas, centrally slightly curved (Fig. 38B). Microscleres absent. Oxea dimensions: 73–188 µm (x̅=123.3, σ=35.6) x 3–11 µm (x̅=4.9, σ=2.2). Ecology. Found at 1.5 m depth in rubble. Distribution and previous records. S. crypticum was described by Carballo et al. (2007) from Nayarit, Mexico. Only three later reports are available and were again for the Mexican Pacific (Carballo et al. 2008a, 2008b, 2013). The latter publication stated that abundances of S. crypticum may have increased after reef deterioration. Scott et al. (1988) listed a Siphonodictyon species for Costa Rica. However, even though S. crypticum is common in the East Pacific and to date the only Siphonodictyon species known from there (Schönberg et al. 2017), we have no means to confirm the occurrence of S. crypticum in Costa Rica. Our account is the first report for Central America and El Salvador (Fig. 39). Remarks. We presently did not provide a very comprehensive description, because of the recent date and the detail of the original description (Carballo et al. 2007). Our material agreed well with that of Carballo et al. (2007), and further information can be taken from that publication., Published as part of Pacheco, Cristian, Carballo, José Luis, Cortés, Jorge, Segovia, Johanna & Trejo, Alejandra, 2018, Excavating sponges from the Pacific of Central America, descriptions and a faunistic record, pp. 451-491 in Zootaxa 4370 (5) on pages 483-484, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4370.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1147211, {"references":["Carballo, J. L., Hepburn, L., Nava, H. H., Cruz-Barraza, J. A. & Bautista-Guerrero, E. (2007) Coral boring Aka - species (Porifera: Phloeodictyidae) from Mexico with description of Aka cryptica sp. nov. Journal of Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 87, 1477 - 1484. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / s 0025315407055373","Carballo, J. L., Cruz-Barraza, J. A., Nava, H. & Bautista, E. (2008 a) Esponjas perforadoras de sustratos calcareos: importancia en los ecosistemas arrecifales del Pacifico este. CONABIO, Mexico City, 187 pp.","Carballo, J. L., Bautista-Guerrero, E. & Leyte-Morales, G. E. (2008 b) Boring sponges and the modeling of coral reefs in the east Pacific Ocean. Marine Ecology Progress Serie s, 356, 113 - 1 22. https: // doi. org / 10.3354 / meps 07276","Carballo, J. L., Bautista, E., Nava, H., Cruz? Barraza, J. A. & Chavez, J. A. (2013) Boring sponges, an increasing threat for coral reefs affected by bleaching events. Ecology and Evolution, 3, 872 - 8 86. https: // doi. org / 10.1002 / ece 3.452","Scott, P. J. B., Risk, M. J. & Carriquiry, J. D. (1988) El Nino, bioerosion and the survival of East Pacific reefs. Proceedings of the 6 th International Coral Reef Symposium, Australia, 2, 517 - 520."]}

Cliona euryphylle Topsent, 1888 Material examined. MZUCR.180: Isla del Ca��o, 4 m, 1984, coll. Jorge Cort��s N����ez. MZUCR.374: Bah��a Salinas, 20 m, 8.XII.2010, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. CIMAR.PL.04: Playa Mantas, 4 m, 11.IV.2011, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. External morphology. Only in alpha morphology. Circular papillae protruding above substrate, 3 mm in diameter. Live color orange. Excavation. Multicamerate erosion. Ovoid chambers between 1 and 2.5 mm in diameter (Fig. 8A). Diameters of sponge erosion scars ranging from 28 to 70 ��m, with subtle circular ridges and sharp edges (Fig. 8B). Spicules. Megascleres subtly curved tylostyles with pronounced tyles (Fig. 9). Tyles round to oval and often slightly subterminal. Microscleres rubust spirasters with discrete or bi-split, conical spines, in helical distribution on convex shaft sides or in amphiasterose distribution at shaft ends. Most spirasters short and commonly straight, but S-shaped and longer, helical forms occur (Fig. 9). Tylostyle dimensions 1 20���300 ��m (x��=201, ��=48.3) x 5���8 ��m (x��=6.7, ��=1.4). Spirasters dimensions 9-24 ��m (x��=18, ��=4.1) x 2-7 ��m (x��=4.7, ��=1.6). Ecology. Found in dead Pavona sp. and P. lobata between 4 and 20 m depth. Distribution and previous records. The species was described by Topsent in 1888 from the southern Gulf of Mexico. A report by Bergquist (1968) from New Zealand and by Laubenfels (1954) in the Central Pacific may or may not be conspecific with C. euryphylle. In the last decade Carballo et al. (2004, 2008a) and Vega (2012) have reported the species along the Pacific shores of Mexico. Here we extend the species distribution and present the first record for Costa Rica and for the Mesoamerican Pacific (Fig. 10). Remarks. C. euryphylle appears to be the morphologically most similar known species that best compares to our material. However, it was originally described from the other side of the Mesoamerican isthmus (Topsent 1888), and thus earlier reports of this species from the Pacific have been regarded as inaccurate (Soest et al. 2016). Berguist���s (1968) account from temperate New Zealand may not be for C. euryphylle, because it concerns a sponge with a spiraster crust, which was not mentioned by Topsent (1888); but he did list such crusts for other species in other publications. Bergquist erroneously assumed C. euryphylle to be of East Pacific origin, and her material should be re-assessed. Laubenfels��� (1954) report of C. euryphylle from the Micronesian Pohnpei lacks in detail, so that no adequate comparison can be made based on that publication, but he listed other, presently recognized species with a similar spicule complement, namely the Mediterranean Cliona burtoni Topsent, 1932, and Cliona aethiopicus Burton, 1932 from the Gulf of Guinea. The spicule dimensions of C. burtoni and C. aethiopicus fit into the size range provided above (Burton 1932; Topsent 1932), but like C. euryphylle these two species occur in the wrong ocean, were sampled at even larger distance from the present study sites than C. euryphylle, and are here tentatively disregarded as possible conspecifics. C. burtoni also differs from our material by having different tyle and spiraster shapes (Topsent 1932; Bertolino et al. 2013). C. aethiopicus has not been reported by anyone since the original description. Another similar species is Cliona caledoniae Soest & Beglinger, 2009, but its tylostyles are larger than in the present samples, and its spirasters not as variable (Soest & Beglinger 2009). It is a coldtemperate Atlantic species and unlikely to be a taxonomic match. C. euryphylle has previously been reported from the Mexican Pacific by Carballo et al. (2004), and we presently follow their taxonomic decision. We assume that the species may have crossed the isthmus via the Panama Canal. However, future studies should include molecular analyses comparing C. euryphylle from both sides of the isthmus to assess whether they are really conspecific or represent cryptic species as have been distinguished during earlier studies when comparing morphological similar sponges of the Mesoamerican Pacific and Atlantic (Boury-Esnault et al. 1999)., Published as part of Pacheco, Cristian, Carballo, Jos�� Luis, Cort��s, Jorge, Segovia, Johanna & Trejo, Alejandra, 2018, Excavating sponges from the Pacific of Central America, descriptions and a faunistic record, pp. 451-491 in Zootaxa 4370 (5) on pages 459-461, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4370.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1147211, {"references":["Topsent, E. (1888) Contribution a l´etude des Clionides. Archives de Zoologie Experimentale et Generale, 5, 1 - 165.","Bergquist, P. R. (1968) The marine fauna of New Zealand: Porifera, Demospongiae, Part 1 (Tetractinomorpha and Lithistida). New Zealand Oceanographic Institute Memoir, 188, 1 - 105.","Laubenfels, M. W. de (1954) The sponges of the West-Central Pacific. Oregon State Monographs. Studies in Zoology, 7, 1 - 306.","Carballo, J. L., Cruz-Barraza, J. A. & Gomez, P. (2004) Taxonomy and description of clionaid sponges (Hadromerida, Clionaidae) from the Pacific Ocean of Mexico. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 141, 353 - 397. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1096 - 3642.2004.00126. x","Carballo, J. L., Cruz-Barraza, J. A., Nava, H. & Bautista, E. (2008 a) Esponjas perforadoras de sustratos calcareos: importancia en los ecosistemas arrecifales del Pacifico este. CONABIO, Mexico City, 187 pp.","Vega, C. (2012) Composicion y afinidades biogeograficas de esponjas (Demospongiae) asociadas a comunidades coralinas del Pacifico Mexicano. Doctoral thesis, Instituto Politecnico Nacional, Mexico, 231 pp.","Soest, R. W. M. van, Boury-Esnault, N., Hooper, J. N. A., Rutzler, K., Voogd, N. J. de, Alvarez de Glasby, B., Hajdu, E., Pisera, A. B., Manconi, R., Schonberg, C. H. L., Klautau, M., Picton, B., Kelly, M., Vacelet, J., Dohrmann, M., Diaz, M. C., Cardenas, P. & Carballo, J. L. (2016) World Porifera Database. Available from: http: // www. marinespecies. org / porifera (accessed 10 December 2016)","Topsent, E. (1932) Notes sur les Clionides. Archives de Zoologie Experimentale et Generale, 74, 549 - 579.","Burton, M. (1932) Sponges. Discovery Reports, 6, 237 - 392. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. part. 24379","Bertolino, M., Cerrano, C., Bavestrello, G., Carella, M., Pansini, M. & Calcinai, B. (2013) Diversity of Porifera in the Mediterranean coralligenous accretions, with description of a new species. ZooKeys, 336, 1 - 37. https: // doi. org / 10.3897 / zookeys. 336.5139","Soest, R. W. M. van & Beglinger, E. J. (2009) New bioeroding sponges from Mingulay coldwater reefs, north-west Scotland. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 89, 329 - 3 35. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / s 0025315408002725","Boury-Esnault, N., Klautau, M., Bezac, C., Wulff, J. & Sole-Cava, A. M. (1999) Comparative study of putative conspecific sponge populations from both sides of the Isthmus of Panama. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 79, 39 - 50. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / s 0025315498000046"]}

Pione mazatlanensis Hancock, 1867 Material examined. ICMYL.Pma.84.R, ICMYL.Pma87.R: Playa Matapalo, 3 m, 20.XII.2012, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. External morphology. Endolithic sponge in alpha morphology. No data available on papillae. Live color ochre. Excavation. Not assessed. Spicules. Megascleres slightly curved tylostyles. Microscleres smooth or microspined, curved oxeas with or without cetrotyle and helical, microspined microrhabds in two shapes: short and straight, and long and helical (Fig. 29). Tylotyle dimensions: 152–215 µm (x̅=198.9, σ=26.6) x 2.5–5 µm (x̅=3.3, σ=0.9). Oxea dimensions: 52.5–110 µm (x̅=81.4, σ=14.5) x 2.5–5 µm (x̅=3.6, σ=0.8). Microrhabd dimensions: 10–15 µm (x̅=11.9, σ=1.9) x 1 –2.5 µm (x̅=1.8, σ=0.4). Ecology. Found in dead pocilloporid corals at 3 m depth. Distribution and previous records. The first report was from Mazatlan, Mexico (Hancock 1867). Carballo et al. (2004) found the species in the Mexican Pacific again, ranging from the north (Sonora) to the south (Oaxaca). P. mazatlanensis has not previously been located outside Mexican waters, and this is the first record for Costa Rica and Central America (Fig. 30). Remarks. The microrhabdes, especially those long and helical microrhabdes are the characteristics that allow identify the species and distinguish from other Pione. The dimensions of the spicules from the specimens we reviewed, are similar to those described from the Mexican Pacific (Carballo et al. 2004)., Published as part of Pacheco, Cristian, Carballo, José Luis, Cortés, Jorge, Segovia, Johanna & Trejo, Alejandra, 2018, Excavating sponges from the Pacific of Central America, descriptions and a faunistic record, pp. 451-491 in Zootaxa 4370 (5) on pages 474-476, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4370.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1147211, {"references":["Hancock, A. (1867) Note on the excavating sponges; with descriptions of four new species. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 19, 229 - 242.","Carballo, J. L., Cruz-Barraza, J. A. & Gomez, P. (2004) Taxonomy and description of clionaid sponges (Hadromerida, Clionaidae) from the Pacific Ocean of Mexico. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 141, 353 - 397. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1096 - 3642.2004.00126. x"]}

Genus Pione Gray, 1867 Synonymy. Cliona of various authors, e.g. for some species in Hancock (1849). Archaeoclina Czerniavsky, 1878. Papilissa von Lendenfeld, 1888. Gapoda Laubenfels, 1936. Diagnosis. Excavating sponges in alpha and beta morphology. Delicate, commonly straight tylostyles as megascleres, microspined (rarely smooth) oxeas and microspined rhabds as microscleres. Microrhabds straight or helical, forming ectosomal crusts (adapted from Rützler 2002)., Published as part of Pacheco, Cristian, Carballo, José Luis, Cortés, Jorge, Segovia, Johanna & Trejo, Alejandra, 2018, Excavating sponges from the Pacific of Central America, descriptions and a faunistic record, pp. 451-491 in Zootaxa 4370 (5) on page 473, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4370.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1147211, {"references":["Laubenfels, M. W. de (1936) A comparison of the shallow-water sponges near the Pacific end of the Panama Canal with those at the Caribbean end. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 83, 441 - 466. https: // doi. org / 10.5479 / si. 00963801.83 - 2993.441","Rutzler, K. (2002) Family Clionaidae D'Orbigny, 1851. In: Hooper, J. N. A. & Soest, R. W. M. van (Eds.), Systema Porifera. Vol. 1. A Guide to the Classification of Sponges. Academic / Plenum, New York, pp. 173 - 185. https: // doi. org / 10.1007 / 978 - 1 - 4615 - 0747 - 5 _ 19"]}

Cliothosa tylostrongylata Cruz-Barraza, Carballo, Bautista-Guerrero & Nava, 2011 Material examined. ICMYL. Cty. 59. IT, ICMYL. Cty. 60. IT, ICMYL. Cty. 61. IT, ICMYL. Cty. 62. IT, ICMYL. Cty. 63. IT: Islas Taboga, Panama Bay, 1 m, 15.I.2012, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. ICMYL. Cty. 125. FS, ICMYL. Cty. 130. FS: Bahía Culebra, 3 m, 19.XII.2012, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. ICMARES. UES.CI.66, ICMARES.UES.CI.67, ICMARES.UES.CI.68, Playa el Faro, Los Cóbanos, El Salvador, External morphology. Endolithic sponge in alpha morphology, with discrete papillae. Live color yellow. Excavation. Not assessed. Spicules. Megascleres straight, robust tylostyles, sizes variable (Fig. 23, 24). Tyles wide and sometimes slightly subterminal, shafts gradually tapering, mostly with sharp point, unless tylostyle strongly shortened and reduced to tylostyongyle. Microscleres amphiasters, either branched or reduced and conulose. With 3-4 terminal actines in branched amphiasters, or in unequal arrangement, terminally split into 2-4 strongly recurving hooks, and sometimes again branching before reaching hooks (Fig. 23, 24). Reduced amphiasters overall shorter than branching amphiasters, similar build, but actines as conical, terminally rounded spines (Fig. 23). Tylostyle dimensions: 135–276 µm (x̅=185.1, σ=39.5) x 4–12 µm (x̅=8.4, σ=2.4). Dimensions of straight tylostrongyles: 46–230 µm (x̅=172, σ=28.1) x 4–11 µm (x̅=9, σ=2.0). Ramose amphiaster, length dimensions: 7–24 µm (x̅=19.9, σ=3.0). Reduced amphiaster, length dimensions: 10–13 µm (x̅=12, σ=1.7). Ecology. Found in dead Pocillopora sp. between 1 and 3 m depth. Distribution and previous records. C. tylostrongylata was described by Cruz-Barraza et al. (2011) as one of the less common clionaid species from the Mexican Pacific. Earlier reports of the same species misidentified it as the similar Cliothosa hancocki Topsent, 1905 (Carballo et al. 2008a, 2008b), and although we cannot be sure, we assume that Scott et al. ’s (1988) account on Cl. hancocki from Costa Rica refers to the same species. Consecutive reports were again from the Mexican Pacific (Vega 2012). In this study, the species was collected at El Salvador the first time, where it is the most abundant boring sponge (Fig. 25). Remarks. Presently six species are accepted in the genus Cliothosa (Soest et al. 2016), which for a long time almost exclusively relied on faunistic reports of C. hancocki (see Table 2 in Cruz-Barraza et al. 2011). Only Cliothosa aurivillii (Lindgren, 1897) was also occasionally mentioned in recent publications from the Pacific (Calcinai et al. 2006; Schönberg & Wisshak 2012; Lim et al. 2016). Cl. aurivillii has characteristic microscleres and can easily be distinguished from Cl. hancocki, so any Cliothosa samples with proper amphiasters were traditionally identified as hancocki (see Carballo et al. 2008a, 2008b). More recently similar clionaid species are distinguished from each other, and the Mexican Cliothosa species with ramose amphiasters was described as a distinct species (Cruz-Barraza et al. 2011).

Cliona californiana Laubenfels, 1932 Material examined. MZUCR.373, CIMAR. BS.24: Bahía Salinas, entre 10 y 21 m, 3.III.2011, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. CIMAR. CU.11: Bahía Culebra, 8 m, 28.VI.2011, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. CIMAR. LF.02: Reserva La Flor, 5 m, 14.II.2012, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. External morphology. Can occur in beta and gamma morphologies (Carballo et al. 2004), but recently only recorded in alpha form. Discrete, circular papillae protruding above substrate, 0.8–2.5 mm in diameter. Live color yellow. Excavation. Multicamerare erosion. Chambers on average 1 mm in diameter (Fig. 5A), irregular in shape, occasionally fusing. Erosion scars on chamber walls 30 to 66 µm in diameter, with very subtle circular ridges and sharp edges (Fig. 5B). Spicules. Megascleres tylostyles and derivates, straight or slightly curved mid-shaft, tyles as a rule slightly subterminal, displaced more strongly in immature tylostyles (Fig. 6). Derivates as subtylostyles or styles. No microscleres. Tylostyle dimensions: 125–306 µm (x̅=232, σ=48.3) x 2–10 µm (x̅=6.3, σ=1.5). Dimensions of subtylostyles or styles: 100–205 µm (x̅=153, σ=35.6) x 3.8–8 µm (x̅=4.4, σ=1.5). Ecology. The specimens were found in dead massive and branching corals of Pavona sp. and Pocillopora sp. between 5 and 21 m depth. Distribution and previous records. Laubenfels (1932) found this species in California, United States, boring in shells and dead barnacles. Later, it was located in the Gulf of California, Mexico under the names Pseudosuberites pseudos (Dickinson 1945; Hofknecht 1978) and C. celata (Green & Gómez 1986). This species is very common in the Mexican Pacific and especially in the northern Sea of Cortez (Carballo et al. 2004, 2008a; Vega 2012). In this study we report it for the first time from the Pacific coast of Nicaragua and Costa Rica (Fig. 7). Remarks. C. californiana is a member of the C. celata species complex. This group is taxonomically difficult, because only tylostyles occur, which are similar in shape and size among different species (Schönberg et al. 2006). Carballo et al. (2004) earlier unraveled the taxonomy and various reports for C. californiana that were published under different names (see above) and redescribed the species in much detail. We therefore only provided a short description in addition to our distributional record., Published as part of Pacheco, Cristian, Carballo, José Luis, Cortés, Jorge, Segovia, Johanna & Trejo, Alejandra, 2018, Excavating sponges from the Pacific of Central America, descriptions and a faunistic record, pp. 451-491 in Zootaxa 4370 (5) on page 457, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4370.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1147211, {"references":["Laubenfels, M. W. de (1932) The marine and freshwater sponges of California. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 81, 1 - 40. https: // doi. org / 10.5479 / si. 00963801.81 - 2927.1","Carballo, J. L., Cruz-Barraza, J. A. & Gomez, P. (2004) Taxonomy and description of clionaid sponges (Hadromerida, Clionaidae) from the Pacific Ocean of Mexico. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 141, 353 - 397. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1096 - 3642.2004.00126. x","Dickinson, M. G. (1945) Sponges of the Gulf of California. Reports on the collections obtained by Alan Hancock Pacific Expeditions of Velero III off the coast of Mexico, Central America, South America, and Galapagos Islands in 1932, in 1933, in 1934, in 1935, in 1936, in 1937, in 1939, and 1940. Vol. 11. The University of Southern California Press, Los Angeles, 251 pp.","Hofknecht, G. (1978) Descriptions and key to the intertidal sponges of the Puerto Penasco area in the Gulf of California. Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, 13, 51 - 56.","Green, G. & Gomez, P. (1986) Estudio taxonomico de las esponjas de la Bahia de Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico. Anales del Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnologia de la Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, 13, 273 - 300.","Carballo, J. L., Cruz-Barraza, J. A., Nava, H. & Bautista, E. (2008 a) Esponjas perforadoras de sustratos calcareos: importancia en los ecosistemas arrecifales del Pacifico este. CONABIO, Mexico City, 187 pp.","Vega, C. (2012) Composicion y afinidades biogeograficas de esponjas (Demospongiae) asociadas a comunidades coralinas del Pacifico Mexicano. Doctoral thesis, Instituto Politecnico Nacional, Mexico, 231 pp.","Schonberg, C. H. L., Grass, S. & Heiermann, A. T. (2006) Cliona minuscula, sp. nov. (Hadromerida: Clionaidae) and other bioeroding sponges that only contain tylostyles. Zootaxa, 1312, 1 - 24."]}

Cliona microstrongylata Carballo & Cruz-Barraza, 2005 Material examined. ICMYL. Cmi. 45.IB: Isla Bola��os, Bah��a Salinas, Costa Rica, 8 m, 4.XII.2012, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. ICMYL. Cmi. 31.PL: Playa Mantas, Costa Rica, External morphology. Endolithic sponge in alpha morphology. No observations available on distribution and sizes of papillae. Live color orange. Excavation. Samples too small to assess bioerosion traces. Spicules. Megascleres slightly curved tylostyles, microscleres kidney- or C-shaped microstrongyles (Fig. 11). Tylostyle dimensions: 12 2���284 ��m (x��=176.2, ��=39.4) x 2.2���9.7 ��m (x��=5.4, ��=2.4). Microstrongyle dimensions: 14.9���29.7 ��m (x��=20.7, ��=4.7) x 2.6���16.6 ��m (x��=7.4, ��=4.2). Ecology. Found in dead shells and coral skeleton of Pocillopora sp., between 3 and 8 m depth. Distribution and previous records. The species was originally described (Carballo & Cruz-Barraza 2005) and was again observed from the Gulf of California (Carballo et al. 2008b; Vega 2012). It is presently reported for the Pacific of El Salvador and Costa Rica (Fig. 12). This new record extends the distribution of this species. Remarks. Due to the characteristic kidney-shaped microstrongyles C. microstrongylata is easy to identify. It has only recently been described in detail (Carballo & Cruz-Barraza 2005), and we provided only a short taxonomic account to illustrate the present identification., Published as part of Pacheco, Cristian, Carballo, Jos�� Luis, Cort��s, Jorge, Segovia, Johanna & Trejo, Alejandra, 2018, Excavating sponges from the Pacific of Central America, descriptions and a faunistic record, pp. 451-491 in Zootaxa 4370 (5) on page 462, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4370.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1147211, {"references":["Carballo, J. L. & Cruz-Barraza, J. A. (2005) Cliona microstrongylata, a new species of boring sponge from the Sea of Cortes (Pacific Ocean, Mexico). Cahiers de Biologie Marine, 46, 379 - 387.","Carballo, J. L., Bautista-Guerrero, E. & Leyte-Morales, G. E. (2008 b) Boring sponges and the modeling of coral reefs in the east Pacific Ocean. Marine Ecology Progress Serie s, 356, 113 - 1 22. https: // doi. org / 10.3354 / meps 07276","Vega, C. (2012) Composicion y afinidades biogeograficas de esponjas (Demospongiae) asociadas a comunidades coralinas del Pacifico Mexicano. Doctoral thesis, Instituto Politecnico Nacional, Mexico, 231 pp."]}

Genus Thoosa Hancock, 1849 Synonymy. Annandalea Topsent, 1928 (junior synonym). Annandalena Topsent, 1932 (junior synonym). Thooce Laubenfels, 1936 (junior synonym). Not Thoosa sensu Topsent (1888). Diagnosis. Sponges always in alpha morphology, with wide array of different spicule types including monaxons such as tylostyles and oxeas as megascleres. Tylostyles only in some species, and occasionally missing in some specimens or populations. Microscleres most commonly as amphiasters, oxyasters and their derivates. Amphiasters mostly tylote, with microspination on all extremities, but variations in different species include smooth oxeote rays. Oxyasters with small centre, rays commonly reduced, leading to centrotylote sigmoid or tylostylote forms. Biradiate forms can appear like birdwings (adapted from Carballo et al. 2004)., Published as part of Pacheco, Cristian, Carballo, Jos�� Luis, Cort��s, Jorge, Segovia, Johanna & Trejo, Alejandra, 2018, Excavating sponges from the Pacific of Central America, descriptions and a faunistic record, pp. 451-491 in Zootaxa 4370 (5) on pages 476-477, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4370.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1147211, {"references":["Topsent, E. (1932) Notes sur les Clionides. Archives de Zoologie Experimentale et Generale, 74, 549 - 579.","Laubenfels, M. W. de (1936) A comparison of the shallow-water sponges near the Pacific end of the Panama Canal with those at the Caribbean end. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 83, 441 - 466. https: // doi. org / 10.5479 / si. 00963801.83 - 2993.441","Topsent, E. (1888) Contribution a l´etude des Clionides. Archives de Zoologie Experimentale et Generale, 5, 1 - 165.","Carballo, J. L., Cruz-Barraza, J. A. & Gomez, P. (2004) Taxonomy and description of clionaid sponges (Hadromerida, Clionaidae) from the Pacific Ocean of Mexico. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 141, 353 - 397. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1096 - 3642.2004.00126. x"]}

Genus Cliona Grant, 1826 Synonymy. See Soest et al. (2016). Diagnosis. Excavating sponges in different morphologies, but primarily in alpha and beta growth forms (excavating chambers in calcium carbonate, communicating only through papillae with ambient water). Some species occurring in beta morphology by merging of papillae and forming coherent surface crusts in addition to endolithic tissue. Very few known as free-living sponges in gamma form. Some gamma morphologies attaining large, irregular-massive or cup shapes. No known endopsammic morphologies. Megascleres as tylostyles, Microscleres mostly spirasters and derivates, in some species slim raphides as accessory spicules, but never of structural importance. Spirasters straight, bent, kinked, or spiralling spiny rhabds, including amphiasterose forms clearly derived from true spirasters; extreme forms may be entirely smooth (adapted from R��tzler 2002)., Published as part of Pacheco, Cristian, Carballo, Jos�� Luis, Cort��s, Jorge, Segovia, Johanna & Trejo, Alejandra, 2018, Excavating sponges from the Pacific of Central America, descriptions and a faunistic record, pp. 451-491 in Zootaxa 4370 (5) on page 454, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4370.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1147211, {"references":["Soest, R. W. M. van, Boury-Esnault, N., Hooper, J. N. A., Rutzler, K., Voogd, N. J. de, Alvarez de Glasby, B., Hajdu, E., Pisera, A. B., Manconi, R., Schonberg, C. H. L., Klautau, M., Picton, B., Kelly, M., Vacelet, J., Dohrmann, M., Diaz, M. C., Cardenas, P. & Carballo, J. L. (2016) World Porifera Database. Available from: http: // www. marinespecies. org / porifera (accessed 10 December 2016)","Rutzler, K. (2002) Family Clionaidae D'Orbigny, 1851. In: Hooper, J. N. A. & Soest, R. W. M. van (Eds.), Systema Porifera. Vol. 1. A Guide to the Classification of Sponges. Academic / Plenum, New York, pp. 173 - 185. https: // doi. org / 10.1007 / 978 - 1 - 4615 - 0747 - 5 _ 19"]}

Cliona aff. mucronata Sollas, 1878 Material examined. CIMAR.BS.SA01, CIMAR.BS.11, CIMAR.BS.19: Bah��a Salinas, 16 m. 8.XII.2010, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. CIMAR. BS.21, CIMAR.BS.22, CIMAR.BS.23, CIMAR.BS.25, CIMAR.BS.26, CIMAR.BS.50, CIMAR.BS.52, CIMAR.BS.53: Bah��a Salinas, 8 to 20 m, 3.III.2011, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. CIMAR. CU.05, CIMAR.CU.09(II), CIMAR.CU.09(III), CIMAR.CU.09(IV), CIMAR.CU.09(V), CIMAR.CU.05, CIMAR.CU.08, CIMAR.CU.14: Bah��a Culebra, 8 to 15 m. 21.III.2011, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. CIMAR. CU.120, CIMAR.CU.123, CIMAR.CU.127, CIMAR.CU.200, CIMAR.CU.201, CIMAR.CU.210/1, CIMAR.CU.191(I), CIMAR.CU.191(II), CIMAR.CU.191(III), CIMAR.CU.191(IV), CIMAR.CU.191(V): Bah��a Culebra, 8 to 15 m, 18.VI.2011, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. CIMAR. IC.21, CIMAR.IC.32: Isla del Ca��o, 10 m, 12. II.2011, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. CIMAR.IT.01: Isla Taboga, Panama, 1 m, 10.I.2012, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. External morphology. Endolithic sponge in alpha morphology. Circular papillae with average diameter of 330 ��m. Live color orange. Excavation. Multicamerate erosion. Chambers with average diameter of 1 mm and occasionally fused. Comparatively smooth erosion scars with sharp edges, between 24 and 66 ��m in diameter, smallest scars at passages of exploratory threads (Fig. 13). Spicules. Megascleres as tylostyles (Fig. 14). Two types of tylostyles: I. larger and slimmer type slightly curved in upper half, tyles usually subterminal, and II. shorter ensiform to mucronate type, slightly curved or straight, tyles also subterminal. No microscleres observed. Spicule dimensions for tylostyle I: 92.5���247 ��m (x��=132.9, ��=23.9) x 1.0���10.0 ��m (x��=2.9, ��=0.9). Spicule dimensions for tylostyle II: 27.5���115 ��m (x��=78.7, ��=11.1) x 1 ���17.5 ��m (x��=4.4, ��=1.6). Ecology. Excavating dead and living coral Pavona sp. Furthermore eroding dead P. lobata and Pocillopora sp. Also found excavating mollusk shells. Occurring between 1 and 20 m depth. Distribution and previous records. Cliona mucronata was originally described by Sollas (1878) excavating the calcareous skeleton of the soft coral Isis sp., but the sample site was not specified. Later accounts for this species were usually for the Indo-Pacific (Vacelet & Vasseur 1971; Thomas 1972; Desqueyroux-Fa��ndez 1981; Calcinai et al. 2000). Later records became available from other locations, placing the species at the shores of mainland Mexico, the Revillagigedo Archipelago, Mexico and the Caribbean Sea (Bautista-Guerrero et al. 2006; Carballo et al. 2008a, 2008b; R��tzler et al. 2014; Vega 2012). The spicule morphology in some of these more recent accounts, however, suggested that some records may have been different from C. mucronata sensu stricto, but may be in better congruence with our material. Like Vega (2012), this study reports C. aff. mucronata from Costa Rica and Panama (Fig. 15). Remarks. C. mucronata is a well-established, easy to identify and fully accepted clionaid species with a wide distributional range (Soest et al. 2016), even if the type location remains unknown (Sollas 1878; see Sch��nberg et al. 2017). However, due to spicule characters some recent reports under this name may not be regarded as conspecific and were partly conditioned with the insertion of ���cf.���, indicating an uncertain identification (Vacelet & Vasseur 1971; Bautista-Guerrero et al. 2006; Carballo et al. 2008a, 2008b; R��tzler et al. 2014; Vega 2012). In typical representatives of the Indo-Pacific spirasters were reported (e.g. Thomas 1972; Calcinai et al. 2000), but not in the above accounts or from our samples. Moreover, the shape of the shorter tylostyle appears to differ between some of these publications and implies the existence of an unresolved species complex. Due to these potentional differences, we consider our specimens as being in close affinity to, but more likely different from C. mucronata in the strict sense, and we used the qualification ���aff.���. Our specimen characters appear to differ from Sollas��� (1878) account, but match those of the previously published Mexican samples (Bautista-Guerrero et al. 2006). Exact matching of material will be difficult, but should be attempted due to the common occurrence of this species in the ETP., Published as part of Pacheco, Cristian, Carballo, Jos�� Luis, Cort��s, Jorge, Segovia, Johanna & Trejo, Alejandra, 2018, Excavating sponges from the Pacific of Central America, descriptions and a faunistic record, pp. 451-491 in Zootaxa 4370 (5) on pages 463-465, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4370.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1147211, {"references":["Sollas, M. A. (1878) On two new and remarkable species of Cliona. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 5, 54 - 67. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 00222937808682289","Calcinai, B., Bavestrello, G., Cuttone, G. & Cerrano, C. (2011) Excavating sponges from the Adriatic Sea: description of Cliona adriatica sp. nov. (Demospongiae: Clionaidae) and estimation of its boring activity. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 91, 339 - 346. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / s 0025315410001050","Vacelet, J. & Vasseur, P. (1971) Esponges des recifs coralliens de Tulear (Madagascar). Tethys, 1, 51 - 126.","Thomas, P. A. (1972) Boring sponges of the reefs of Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay. Proceedings of the 1 st Symposium on Corals and Coral Reefs. Journal of Marine Biological Association of India, Mandapam Camp, 333 - 362.","Desqueyroux-Faundez, R. (1981) Revision de la collection d´eponges d´Amboine (Moluques, Indonesie) constituee par Bedot et Pictet et conservee au Museum d´histoire naturelle de Geneve. Revue Suisse de Zoolgie, 88, 723 - 764. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. part. 82404","Calcinai, B., Cerrano, C., Sara, M. & Bavestrello, G. (2000) Boring sponges (Porifera, Demospongiae) from the Indian Ocean. Italian Journal of Zoology, 67, 203 - 219. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 11250000009356314","Bautista-Guerrero, E., Carballo, J. L., Cruz-Barraza, J. A. & Nava, H. H. (2006) New coral reef boring sponges (Hadromerida: Clionaidae) from the Mexican Pacific Ocean. Journal of Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 86, 963 - 970. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / S 0025315406013932","Carballo, J. L., Cruz-Barraza, J. A., Nava, H. & Bautista, E. (2008 a) Esponjas perforadoras de sustratos calcareos: importancia en los ecosistemas arrecifales del Pacifico este. CONABIO, Mexico City, 187 pp.","Carballo, J. L., Bautista-Guerrero, E. & Leyte-Morales, G. E. (2008 b) Boring sponges and the modeling of coral reefs in the east Pacific Ocean. Marine Ecology Progress Serie s, 356, 113 - 1 22. https: // doi. org / 10.3354 / meps 07276","Rutzler, K., Piantoni, C., Soest, R. W. M. van & Diaz, M. C. (2014) Diversity of sponges (Porifera) from cryptic habitats on the Belize Barrier Reef near Carrie Bow Cay. Zootaxa, 3805 (1), 1 - 129. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 3805.1.1","Vega, C. (2012) Composicion y afinidades biogeograficas de esponjas (Demospongiae) asociadas a comunidades coralinas del Pacifico Mexicano. Doctoral thesis, Instituto Politecnico Nacional, Mexico, 231 pp.","Soest, R. W. M. van, Boury-Esnault, N., Hooper, J. N. A., Rutzler, K., Voogd, N. J. de, Alvarez de Glasby, B., Hajdu, E., Pisera, A. B., Manconi, R., Schonberg, C. H. L., Klautau, M., Picton, B., Kelly, M., Vacelet, J., Dohrmann, M., Diaz, M. C., Cardenas, P. & Carballo, J. L. (2016) World Porifera Database. Available from: http: // www. marinespecies. org / porifera (accessed 10 December 2016)"]}

Pione cf. carpenteri (Hancock, 1867) Material examined. MZUCR.377: Isla del Caño, 5 m, 12. II.2011, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. MZUCR.376: Bahía Culebra, 3 m, 21.III.2011, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. MZUCR.379: Playa Mantas, 2 m, 16.IX.2011, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. ICMYL. Pca. 83.R, ICMYL. Pca. 86.R, ICMYL. Pca. 92.R, ICMYL. Pca. 98.R, ICMYL. Pca. 99.R, ICMYL. Pca. 103.R: Playa Matapalo, 3 m, 20.XII.2012, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. ICMYL. Pca. 126.FS: Bahía Culebra, 3 m, 20.XII.2012, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. ICMYL. Pca. 137.IT: Isla Taboga, Gulf of Panama, 1 m, 13.I.2012, coll. and det. Cristian Pacheco Solano. External morphology. Endolithic sponge in alpha morphology. Papillae small, sometimes difficult to observe, average diameter of 390 µm. Live color yellow. Excavation. Erosion multicamerate (Fig. 26A). Oval or irregular chambers with diameters of 0.8 to 1.6 mm. Erosion scars 20 to 102 µm in diameter (Fig. 26B). Spicules. Megascleres straight tylostyles, scarce. Microscleres microspined oxeas curving mid-shaft and straight, microspined microrhabds (Fig. 27). Tylostyle dimensions: 181–217 µm (x̅=202.6, σ=17.7) x 3-5 µm (x̅=4.2, σ=0.6). Oxea dimensions: 63–115 µm (x̅=84.4, σ=21.4) x 3–6 µm (x̅=4, σ=1.7). Microrhabd dimensions: 9–12 µm (x̅=11, σ=1.9) x 1–3 µm (x̅=1.7, σ=0.4). Ecology. Found in dead Pocillopora sp. and shells of dead mollusks, between 1 and 5 m depth. Distribution and previous records. The species was originally described as Cliona carpenteri from Mazatlan (Hancock 1867), Mexico. Recently, more specimens have been collected along the Pacific coast of Mexico (Carballo et al. 2004, 2008a) and Panama (Vega 2012). It has also widely been reported from other locations such as Brazil (Muricy et al. 2011). However, records for the Gulf of Mexico and Myanmar were considered as uncertain (Soest et al. 2016). Scott et al. (1988) mentioned the presence of Pione lampa (Laubenfels, 1950) at Caño Island (Costa Rica), which is most likely a misidentification for this Atlantic sponge (Soest et al. 2016). We have no means to assess which Pione species they referred to. If they decided on P. lampa because it had a beta morphology, then we rule out that they meant P. carpenteri. In this study the latter species ocurred in Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama, with the first two countries being new records for it (Fig. 28). Remarks. We described P. carpenteri with the “conferre” epithet (“cf.”), because it belongs to a taxonomically difficult and not well-documented genus and because it does not differ much from other Pione species in Mexico. It largely compares well to P. carpenteri as described by Carballo et al. (2004), but the microspination of the microrhabds and oxeas in the Mexican samples is less pronounced than in the Central American samples. At this stage, most records of Pione species cannot easily be accepted as correct, and further studies are warranted., Published as part of Pacheco, Cristian, Carballo, José Luis, Cortés, Jorge, Segovia, Johanna & Trejo, Alejandra, 2018, Excavating sponges from the Pacific of Central America, descriptions and a faunistic record, pp. 451-491 in Zootaxa 4370 (5) on pages 473-474, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4370.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1147211, {"references":["Hancock, A. (1867) Note on the excavating sponges; with descriptions of four new species. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 19, 229 - 242.","Calcinai, B., Bavestrello, G., Cuttone, G. & Cerrano, C. (2011) Excavating sponges from the Adriatic Sea: description of Cliona adriatica sp. nov. (Demospongiae: Clionaidae) and estimation of its boring activity. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 91, 339 - 346. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / s 0025315410001050","Carballo, J. L., Cruz-Barraza, J. A. & Gomez, P. (2004) Taxonomy and description of clionaid sponges (Hadromerida, Clionaidae) from the Pacific Ocean of Mexico. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 141, 353 - 397. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1096 - 3642.2004.00126. x","Carballo, J. L., Cruz-Barraza, J. A., Nava, H. & Bautista, E. (2008 a) Esponjas perforadoras de sustratos calcareos: importancia en los ecosistemas arrecifales del Pacifico este. CONABIO, Mexico City, 187 pp.","Vega, C. (2012) Composicion y afinidades biogeograficas de esponjas (Demospongiae) asociadas a comunidades coralinas del Pacifico Mexicano. Doctoral thesis, Instituto Politecnico Nacional, Mexico, 231 pp.","Muricy, G., Lopes, D. A., Hadju, E., Carvalho, M. S., Moraes, F. C., Klautau, M., Menegola, C. & Pinheiro, U. (2011) Catalogue of Brazilian Porifera. Museu Nacional, Serie Livros 46, Rio de Janeiro, 300 pp.","Soest, R. W. M. van, Boury-Esnault, N., Hooper, J. N. A., Rutzler, K., Voogd, N. J. de, Alvarez de Glasby, B., Hajdu, E., Pisera, A. B., Manconi, R., Schonberg, C. H. L., Klautau, M., Picton, B., Kelly, M., Vacelet, J., Dohrmann, M., Diaz, M. C., Cardenas, P. & Carballo, J. L. (2016) World Porifera Database. Available from: http: // www. marinespecies. org / porifera (accessed 10 December 2016)","Scott, P. J. B., Risk, M. J. & Carriquiry, J. D. (1988) El Nino, bioerosion and the survival of East Pacific reefs. Proceedings of the 6 th International Coral Reef Symposium, Australia, 2, 517 - 520.","Laubenfels, M. W. de (1950) The Porifera of the Bermuda Archipelago. Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, 27, 1 - 154. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1096 - 3642.1950. tb 00227. x"]}

In an environment of growing globalization, which goes along with a relative increase of factor mobility, the role of territories and its competitiveness is under debate. In order to spur local attraction territories often enter in competition with each other. At this respect it is commonplace that governments at various territorial levels apart from other public and private institutions concern about providing the conditions that make attractive their countries, regions or cities for productive activities and in so doing they get involved in the race for competitiveness. Even though competition involves the actions of multiple actors, these often are connected with each other through local policy makers. By and large, local government and regional development policy are regarded to play a central function in territorial competition and in fact can be considered that the competitive success of regions and cities cannot be achieved without the active action of local governments. To the extent to which governments are more conscious about the actual territorial competitive environment they will try to formulate more policies for the development of competitive capabilities. The actions and efforts may take many forms (marketing, assisting local businesses, constructing infrastructure, information and land provision, taxation and so on). Particularly governments may use programs or apply funds, which are available as a result of national or regional policy, to attend to local interests. However local governments' actions depend to a large extent on their financial capabilities. The federal government in Mexico provides most of the financial support to states and municipalities on an ongoing basis through transfers and participations. These are federal transfers supporting specific policy areas or unconditional transfers.This paper is concerned with presenting an integrated framework for territorial competition analysis which emphasises the fundamental role of local government action and assessing the role of federal aid on the competitive results of Mexican regions. The methodology proposed will develop a series of competitive results indicators for Mexican regions and use a multivariate analysis to assess the influence of transfers and participations. The periods include those years when Mexico has been and opened and liberalised economy.

It is argued that the competitive capacities from the regional and local point of view can be constructed, that in fact are tied to territorial policies and to the development of a territorial culture that integrates the local system of companies. Moreover a process of such nature can contribute to overcome the deterioration of backward territories. The construction of territorial competitiveness has to be one along the fundamental lines of action of sub-national governments. The existence of a solid service sector and some degree of specialisation in tertiary activities are among a number of territorial diversity of factors which need to be taken into account in relation to the creation of competitive capacities. In addition globalisation has presumably played a significant role in the productive restructuring of economies; within this the service sector has had over the years an increasing quantitative and qualitative importance in economic structures. This urges to evaluate the role of the third sector, in a context of economic globalisation, in the processes of constructing regional competitive capacities. This paper aims at providing a wide-ranging assessment of efficiency of the third sector at the regional level and its sources as well as an examination of the territorial structure of services and commerce in Mexico, specialisation patterns and productive structures. Our interest is to begin a line of study to analyse the efficiency of the Mexican tertiary sector by looking at the differences in regional performance and also the geographical determinants of these differentials. We will evaluate if there are clear patterns of concentration, specialisation and regional efficiency because of its impact on regional competitiveness. The regional efficiency of the service sector in Mexico in the period of NAFTA operation will be analysed. We employ state level data to examine technical efficiency's differentials across regions and their determinants. The methodology includes Data Envelopment Analysis to measure the efficiency of the third sector which is the dependent variable in a reduced form model that links regional performance with a number of proxies for various types of agglomeration economies such as specialisation, urbanisation and internal economies of scale.

La unificación de estrategias de Relaciones Públicas en la industria automotriz En 2003, los responsables de las áreas de Relaciones Públicas (RRPP) de las cinco principales empresas automotrices en México -Ford, Chrysler, General Motors, Volkswagen y Nissan-, iniciaron encuentros de tipo social. Nadie imaginó el alcance de la plática casual, que derivó en sesiones de trabajo para el intercambio de información clave y mejores prácticas. La retroalimentación permitió coincidir en la necesidad de actuar de inmediato frente a un problema común, cuyo origen era básicamente que los medios especializados en autos de mayor impacto y por tanto los de mayor interés para las empresas automotrices eran pocos y satisfacer las necesidades de cobertura de cinco empresas con distintas marcas, modelos y versiones -sin contar la entrada de nuevos jugadores en el mercado automotriz nacional-, era complicado. Dicha problemática se acentuó en las exhibiciones de autos internacionales, mejor conocidas como Autoshows, hizo crisis, escaló e impactó desde los propios periodistas de la fuente automotriz, hasta las casas matrices de las firmas automotrices.

As a result of the advancement of globalisation and the increasing emphasis on competitiveness as a means to get a position in a globalised economy, the territory has regained a key role as a unit for analysis and action. In the context of the globalization local and regional territories compete to attract and retain productive investment and resources and increase its share in total production because it is at the territorial level that the benefits of external integration and the continuous improvement of well-being and abundance are expressed. Transport and trade costs are one dimension of competitiveness. Poor transport infrastructure, long transportation times, inefficiencies, etc. create significant costs which affect the ability of producers to access regional and international markets more quickly and effectively. An analysis of the role played by transport infrastructure and related costs in the development of competitiveness and productivity of regions is fundamental. Although transportation can become a determining factor in how the territory functions development also depends on other crucial factors such as the quality of institutions, economic policies and often openness to trade. This paper will assess the influence of a number of economic forces related to transport costs and trade liberalization on the geographic distribution of manufacturing in Mexico which is a country that carried out and intense process of liberalizations from the 1980's. We will employ GDP data at the state level (1970-2004) in an examination of regional densities in manufacturing as a dependent variable in a reduced form model, where proxies for trade costs and liberalisation are the explanatory variables. The econometric test will provide evidence on the role of interregional differences of transport costs, import access and FDI to foster agglomeration of economic activity which is a reflection of a region's competitiveness. Additionally we look for support for the argument that trade brings increasing agglomeration of economic activity in countries with poor infrastructure and high internal transport costs, as in the case of Mexico compared to industrialised economies.