Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2004, Síða 300

298
Freshwater sponges (Porifera: Spongillidae)
in the Faroe Islands
Feskvatns svampar (Porifera: Spongillidae) í Føroyum
Ole Secher Tendal
Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK 2100 Copenhagen 0, Denmark.
Email: ostendal@zmuc.ku.dk
Úrtak
Tvey sløg av feskvatns svampum, Racekiela ryderi
(Potts, 1882) og Spongilla lacustris (Linne. 1758) eru
skrásett í Føroyum, tað seinna skrásett fyri fyrstu ferð.
Ein kjarni tikin í Skálafjørðinum hevði sporahylki við
R. ryderi, sum eru frá umleið ár 8.600 áðrenn okkara
tíð. Hetta er ein ábending um, at feskvatns soppar vóru
millum tey fyrstu dýr at seta seg niður aftaná síðstu
ístíð.
Abstract
Two species of freshwater-sponges, Racekiela ryderi
(Potts, 1882) and Spongilla lacustris (Linne, 1758) are
recorded from the Faroes, the latter as new to the islands.
Gemmules of R. ryderi from a core in Skálafjørður have
been dated to about 8600 years B.P.. an indication that
freshwater sponges were among the early immigrants
after the last deglaciation.
Introduction
Early investigations on the freshwater fauna
of the Faroe Islands were sporadic, Svabo
(1783, but not published until 1959), Landt
(1800), Mørch (1868, 1869), Willemoes-
Suhm (1873), Richard (1898) and Collinge
(1904) listing only few species, and among
them no freshwater sponges. The group was
for the first time reported by Arndt (1928),
who identified and described material of
Racekiela ryderi (Potts, 1882), collected
in 1912 by the entomologists A. Dampf
and K. von Rosen. Despite comprehensive
sampling of freshwater fauna during the
1920’s no further material of sponges had
turned up, when Sparck elaborated on the
same record in the series The Zoology of
the Faroes (1934), and no recent finds have
since been brought to attention (Tendal,
1967; Simon, 1978). Postglacial material
has been reported from a core as “Spongil-
lidae” by Bennike et al. (1998).
Recent investigations provided three
samples, one taken by the author, the others
by F. Jensen and H.T. Rapp, respectively.
Fróðskaparrit 51. bók 2004: 298-303