1 Systematics of ‘lithistid’ tetractinellid 2 demosponges from the Tropical Western 3 Atlantic – implications for phylodiversity 4 and bathymetric distribution 1,2 3 4 5 Astrid Schuster , Shirley A. Pomponi , Andrzej Pisera , Paco 5 6 1,7,8 1,8 6 Cardenas´ , Michelle Kelly , Gert Worheide¨ , and Dirk Erpenbeck 1 7 Department of Earth- & Environmental Sciences, Palaeontology and Geobiology, 8 Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat¨ M ¨unchen, Richard-Wagner Str. 10, 80333 Munich, 9 Germany 2 10 Current address: Department of Biology, NordCEE, Southern University of Denmark, 11 Campusvej 55, 5300 M Odense, Denmark 3 12 Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University, 5600 U.S. 1 North, 13 Ft Pierce, FL 34946, USA 4 14 Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Twarda 51/55, 00-818 15 Warszawa, Poland 5 16 Pharmacognosy, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Uppsala University, Husargatan 17 3, 75123 Uppsala, Sweden 6 18 National Centre for Coasts and Oceans, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric 19 Research, Private Bag 99940, Newmarket, Auckland, 1149, New Zealand 7 20 SNSB-Bayerische Staatssammlung f ¨urPalaontologie¨ und Geologie, Richard-Wagner 21 Str. 10, 80333 Munich, Germany 8 22 GeoBio-CenterLMU, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat¨ M ¨unchen, Richard-Wagner Str. 10, 23 80333 Munich, Germany 24 Corresponding author: 1,8 25 Dirk Erpenbeck 26 Email address:
[email protected] 27 ABSTRACT PeerJ Preprints | https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.27673v1 | CC BY 4.0 Open Access | rec: 22 Apr 2019, publ: 22 Apr 2019 28 Background Among all present demosponges, lithistids represent a polyphyletic group with 29 exceptionally well preserved fossils dating back to the Cambrian.