Artemisina
Taxonomy
This page represents the following TreeOfLife-200M taxonomic path.[1]
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Porifera
- Class: Demospongiae
- Order: Poecilosclerida
- Family: Microcionidae
- Genus: Artemisina
Overview
Artemisina is an accepted genus of poecilosclerid microcionoid sponges (family Microcionidae) within the order Poecilosclerida. The genus was described by Vosmaer (1885).[2]
Diversity and taxonomy
A recent taxonomic treatment recognizes Artemisina as comprising 20 valid species, with seven species reported from the Atlantic Ocean.[3]
In the North Atlantic region, two “mushroom-shaped” historical taxa (A. transiens and A. hispanica) have been treated by the World Porifera Database as synonyms; however, a regional reassessment reports checking available types for A. hispanica and discusses differences in skeleton for Iberian material attributed to these taxa.[3]
Ecology and habitat
Artemisina species can form sponge grounds. A study using in situ ROV imagery from the Iberian Peninsula documents ecological “life conditions” and associated fauna observed directly during surveys, and emphasizes that earlier regional information lacked ecological characterization and detailed skeletal composition.[3]
Visual Description
Across Artemisina records in the Tree of Life 200M image dataset (n=77 images under this genus path), specimens are typically depicted as macroscopic encrusting to cushion/massive sponge forms, often with a lobed or irregular surface outline in preserved-material photographs.
Examples in the dataset include museum specimens attributed to Artemisina species such as A. plumosa and A. arcigera (preserved, photographed from museum holdings).[1]
Biotic interactions (pathogen associations)
Artemisina has documented associations with viruses in databases of biotic interactions; for example, Global Biotic Interactions includes records of a “hasPathogen” relationship involving Artemisina melana and an associated circular viral genome entry.[4]
Gallery
References
- 1 2 Dataset view for Animalia / Porifera / Demospongiae / Poecilosclerida / Microcionidae / Artemisina constructed from imageomics/TreeOfLife-200M records under this taxonomic path. Hugging Face Datasets. https://huggingface.co/datasets/imageomics/TreeOfLife-200M.
- ↑ Artemisina Vosmaer, 1885. GBIF. https://www.gbif.org/species/2240912. Accessed 2026-07-09.
- 1 2 3 Pilar Ríos; Ricardo Aguilar; Ana de la Torriente; Araceli Muñóz; Javier Cristobo. Sponge grounds of Artemisina (Porifera, Demospongiae) in the Iberian Peninsula, ecological characterization by ROV techniques. Zootaxa. 2018. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4466.1.10.
- ↑ Artemisina. Global Biotic Interactions. https://www.globalbioticinteractions.org/?targetTaxon=Artemisina. Accessed 2026-07-10.