Stellispongiida

Stellispongiida Temporal range: Permian–Miocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
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]

Subgroups

• Family †Endostomatidae Finks & Rigby, 2004 [Lower Triassic?–Eocene]
• Family Lelapiidae? Dendy & Row, 1913 [Holocene]
• Family †Stellispongiidae Laubenfels, 1955 [Permian–Miocene]

References

1. Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology Part E, Revised. Porifera, Volume 3: Classes Demospongea, Hexactinellida, Heteractinida & Calcarea, xxxi + 872 p., 506 fig., 1 table, 2004, available here. ISBN 0-8137-3131-3.
2. Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology Part E, Revised. Porifera, Volumes 4 & 5: Hypercalcified Porifera, Paleozoic Stromatoporoidea & Archaeocyatha, liii + 1223 p., 665 figs., 2015, available here. ISBN 978-0-9903621-2-8.
3. Borojevic, Radovan; Boury-Esnault, Nicole; Manuel, Michaël; Vacelet, Jean (2002), Hooper, John N. A.; Van Soest, Rob W. M.; Willenz, Philippe (eds.), "Order Leucosolenida Hartman, 1958", Systema Porifera, Boston, MA: Springer US, pp. 1157–1184, doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-0747-5_120, ISBN 978-0-306-47260-2, retrieved 2023-04-27
4. Manuel, Michael; Borchiellini, Carole; Alivon, Eliane; Le Parco, Yannick; Vacelet, Jean; Boury-Esnault, Nicole (2003-06-01). Kjer, Karl (ed.). "Phylogeny and Evolution of Calcareous Sponges: Monophyly of Calcinea and Calcaronea, High Level of Morphological Homoplasy, and the Primitive Nature of Axial Symmetry". Systematic Biology. 52 (3): 311–333. doi:10.1080/10635150390196966. ISSN 1076-836X.