Genus Suberites Nardo, 1930

Remarks on the genus

The genus Suberites Nardo, 1930 is characterised by a confused skeleton constituted by (sub)tylostyles and/or microscleres that are microspined centrotylote oxeas, strongyles or even styles, with all of these microscleres possibly in the same specimen. The species of this genus do not have clear ectosomal differentiation. The habitus is thin encrusting to massive, has a compact consistency, velvety surface, and the colour is from beige to tawny. This description together with other similar descriptions of other genera within the family Suberitidae makes the assignment of a specimen to the correct genus difficult. For the genus itself, many of the species were described more than a century ago and many of the names have been synonymised (e.g., Burton 1953) or forgotten, and many of the species have a very short and cryptic description. There are currently 83 accepted species for the genus and about 102 unaccepted names. For the NEA there are currently 76 accepted species. Here, we present very preliminary names for the Suberites species, pending a thorough taxonomic revision.