| Cryptophragmus Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Porifera |
| Class: | Demospongiae |
| Order: | † Labechiida |
| Family: | † Aulaceratidae |
| Genus: | † Cryptophragmus Raymond, 1914 [1] |
| Species | |
| |
Cryptophragmus is an extinct genus of sponges in the extinct family Aulaceratidae. Species are from the Ordovician of Australia, Canada (Ontario), China and the United States (Georgia, Virginia).
Archaeocyatha is a taxon of extinct, sessile, reef-building marine organisms of warm tropical and subtropical waters that lived during the early (lower) Cambrian Period. It is believed that the centre of the Archaeocyatha origin is now located in East Siberia, where they are first known from the beginning of the Tommotian Age of the Cambrian, 525 million years ago (mya). In other regions of the world, they appeared much later, during the Atdabanian, and quickly diversified into over a hundred families. They became the planet's very first reef-building animals and are an index fossil for the Lower Cambrian worldwide.
Stromatoporoidea is an extinct clade of sea sponges common in the fossil record from the Ordovician through the Devonian. They were especially abundant and important reef-formers in the Silurian and most of the Devonian. The group was previously thought to be related to the corals and placed in the phylum Cnidaria. They are now classified in the phylum Porifera, specifically the sclerosponges. There are numerous fossil forms with spherical, branching or encrusting skeletons of laminated calcite with vertical pillars between the laminae. Specimen of its oldest genus, Priscastroma, have been found within the Middle Ordovician Sediments. This same genus has been referred to as the species P. gemina Khrom., and is known to have been known to branch off into two forms, A and B. Form A gave rise to the genus Cystostroma while form B gave rise to the genus Labechia and its descendants. Paleozoic stromatoporoids died out at the Hangenberg Event at the end of the Devonian. Purported Mesozoic stromatoporoids may be unrelated, thus making "stromatoporoids" a polyphyletic group if they are included.
Vauxia is an extinct genus of demosponge that had a distinctive branching mode of growth. Each branch consisted of a network of strands. Vauxia also had a skeleton of spongin common to modern day sponges. Much like Choia and other sponges, Vauxia fed by extracting nutrients from the water.
Choia is a genus of extinct demosponge ranging from the Cambrian until the Lower Ordovician periods. Fossils of Choia have been found in the Burgess Shale in British Columbia; the Maotianshan shales of China; the Wheeler Shale in Utah; and the Lower Ordovician Fezouata formation. It was first described in 1920 by Charles Doolittle Walcott.
Palaeophragmodictya is an extinct genus of sponge-grade organisms from the Ediacaran Period. Originally interpreted as a hexactinellid sponge, the organism also bears some coelomate characteristics, including bilateral symmetry.
The extinct Solenoporaceae have traditionally been interpreted as a group of red algae ancestral to the Corallinales.
Anthaspidellidae is an extinct family of sponges whose dendroclone spicules form ladder-like trabs.
Eiffelia is an extinct genus of sponges known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale as well as several Early Cambrian small shelly fossil deposits. It is named after Eiffel Peak, which was itself named after the Eiffel Tower. It was first described in 1920 by Charles Doolittle Walcott. It belongs in the Hexactinellid stem group. 60 specimens of Eiffelia are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 0.11% of the community.
Halichondrites, sometimes mis-spelt Halicondrites is an extinct genus of sea sponge known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale. 7 specimens of Halichondrites are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise < 0.1% of the community.
Hamptonia is an extinct genus of sea sponge known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale and the Lower Ordovician Fezouata formation. It was first described in 1920 by Charles Doolittle Walcott. 48 specimens of Hamptonia are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise < 0.1% of the community.
Pirania is an extinct genus of sea sponge known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale and the Ordovician Fezouata formation. It is named after Mount St. Piran, a mountain situated in the Bow River Valley in Banff National Park, Alberta. It was first described in 1920 by Charles Doolittle Walcott. 198 specimens of Pirania are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 0.38% of the community.
Choiaella is an extinct genus of sea sponge ranging from the Chengjiang lagerstatten until the Lower Silurian.
Hazeliidae is an extinct family of spicular Cambrian sea sponges known from the Burgess Shale, the Marjum Formation of Utah, and possibly Chengjiang. It was described by Charles Walcott in 1920.
The prehistory of the United States comprises the occurrences within regions now part of the United States during the interval of time spanning from the formation of the Earth to the documentation of local history in written form. At the start of the Paleozoic era, what is now "North" America was actually in the southern hemisphere. Marine life flourished in the country's many seas, although terrestrial life had not yet evolved. During the latter part of the Paleozoic, seas were largely replaced by swamps home to amphibians and early reptiles. When the continents had assembled into Pangaea drier conditions prevailed. The evolutionary precursors to mammals dominated the country until a mass extinction event ended their reign.
Notiodella is an extinct conodont genus in the family Balognathidae. It has been described from a 17-element apparatus from the Soom Shale Lagerstätte in South Africa.
Amorphognathus is an extinct conodont genus in the family Balognathidae from the Ordovician.
Kallidontus is an extinct genus of conodonts.
Variabiloconus is an extinct genus of conodonts.
Histiodella is an extinct genus of conodonts.
Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound Glass Sponge Reefs Marine Protected Area is a 2,410-square-kilometre marine protected area located in Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound off the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada. The marine protected area was established in February 2017 with the goal of conserving the biological diversity, structural habitat, and ecosystem function of four glass sponge reefs. These reefs were the first discovered living specimens and are the largest glass sponge reefs in the world.
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