Stellispongiida Temporal range: | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Peronidella sp. (family Stellispongiidae) from the Middle Jurassic of Israel | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Porifera |
Class: | Calcarea |
Subclass: | Calcaronea |
Order: | † Stellispongiida Finks & Rigby, 2004 |
Subgroups | |
see text. |
Stellispongiida is an order of calcareous sponges, most or all of which are extinct. Stellispongiids are one of several unrelated sponge groups described as "inozoans", a name referring to sponges with a hypermineralized calcitic skeleton independent from their spicules. Stellispongiids have a solid skeleton (without chambers) encasing calcite spicules arranged in trabeculae (column-like structures). [1] [2] "Inozoans" and the similar "sphinctozoans" were historically grouped together in the polyphyletic order Pharetronida. [2]
Stellispongiids survived from the Permian to the Cenozoic, at least up to the Miocene Epoch. [1] They comprised the majority of "inozoan" diversity in the Cretaceous Period, though their distribution was mostly restricted to Europe. [2] The Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology (2004) places the living sponge family Lelapiidae within Stellispongiida, [1] though Systema Porifera (2002) places Lelapiidae within the order Leucosolenida. [3] [4]