"Sphingolipids are a class of lipids containing a backbone of sphingoid bases, a set of aliphatic amino 
alcohols that includes sphingosine. They were discovered in brain extracts in the 1870s and were named for the mythological Sphinx because of their enigmatic nature.[1] These compounds play important roles in signal transmission and cell recognition. Sphingolipidoses, or disorders of sphingolipid metabolism, have particular impact on neural tissue. A sphingolipid with an R group consisting of a hydrogen atom only is a ceramide. Other common R groups include phosphocholine, yielding a sphingomyelin, and various sugar monomers or dimers, yielding cerebrosides and globosides, respectively. Cerebrosides and globosides are collectively known as glycosphingolipids."
"The long-chain bases, sometimes simply known as sphingoid bases, are the first non-transient products of de novo sphingolipid synthesis in both yeast and mammals. These compounds, specifically known as phytosphingosine and dihydrosphingosine (also known as sphinganine,[2] although this term is less common), are mainly C18 compounds, with somewhat lower levels of C20 bases.[3] Ceramides and glycosphingolipids are N-acyl derivatives of these compounds."