Acanthancora equiformis
Taxonomy
This page represents the following TreeOfLife-200M taxonomic path.[1]
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Porifera
- Class: Demospongiae
- Order: Poecilosclerida
- Family: Hymedesmiidae
- Genus: Acanthancora
- Species: Acanthancora equiformis
Visual Description
Species Overview
Acanthancora equiformis is an accepted species in the sponge family Hymedesmiidae. It was described as new to science from shallow-water sponges collected and photographed by SCUBA divers in the Galápagos Islands (Ecuador) (sp. nov.; Sim-Smith, Hickman & Kelly, 2021).[2] [3]
Distribution and Habitat
This species occurs in shallow waters around the Galápagos Islands[3]. It has been recorded from subtidal environments, though specific depth ranges and habitat preferences require further investigation given the current Data Deficient status[4].
Conservation Status
As assessed by IUCN, Acanthancora equiformis is listed as Data Deficient. The assessment notes limited information on its extent of distribution and recommends further research, while also mentioning possible impacts from threats such as competition from introduced ascidians and environmental change associated with ENSO events.[4]
Gallery
References
- ↑ Dataset view for Animalia / Porifera / Demospongiae / Poecilosclerida / Hymedesmiidae / Acanthancora / equiformis constructed from imageomics/TreeOfLife-200M records under this taxonomic path. Hugging Face Datasets. https://huggingface.co/datasets/imageomics/TreeOfLife-200M.
- ↑ Acanthancora equiformis Sim-Smith, Hickman & Kelly, 2021. GBIF. https://www.gbif.org/species/11129132. Accessed 2026-07-09.
- 1 2 Carina Sim-Smith; Cleveland P. Hickman; Michelle Kelly. New shallow-water sponges (Porifera) from the Galápagos Islands. Zootaxa. 2021. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5012.1.1.
- 1 2 Acanthancora equiformis. IUCN Red List. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/220725256/220725272. Accessed 2026-07-10.