Biemna

Mothes, Beatriz, Campos, Maurício, Lerner, Cléa, Carraro, João Luís, Van, Rob W. M. & Soest, 2005, A new species of Biemna Gray, 1867 (Demospongiae, Poecilosclerida) from the north coast of Brazil, Zootaxa 1087, pp. 39-44 : 43

Key to tropical West Atlantic species of Biemna

1 Megascleres oxeas ........................................................................................................ 2

­ Megascleres styles ........................................................................................................ 3

2 Two categories of sigmas; no microxeas........... B . cribaria ( Alcolado & Gotera, 1986)

­ Microxeas present; only one size categroy of sigmas........... B. spinomicroxea sp. nov.

3 Only one size category of sigmas.......................... B . microstyla De Laubenfels, 1950

­ Two or three size categories of sigmas ......................................................................... 4

4 Three size categories of sigmas......................... B . trisigmata Mothes & Campos, 2004

­ Two size categories of sigmas ...................................................................................... 5

5 Large sigmas> 90 µm; small sigmas with microspined extremities, no commas ........................................ B . microacanthosigma Mothes, Hajdu, Lerner & Van Soest, 2004

­ Commas present; small­sized sigmas (<35 µm) ........ B. caribea Pulitzer­Finali, 1986