Falospongia

Falospongia
Temporal range: Burgess Shale
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Illustration of Falospongia ramosa
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Porifera
Class: Demospongiae
Order: †Protomonaxonida
Family: †Hazeliidae
Genus: †Falospongia
Rigby, 1986
Species
  • F. falata Rigby, 1986[1] (type)
  • F. ramosa Rigby & Collins 2004[2]

Falospongia is a genus of sponge made up of radiating fronds, known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale. Its name is derived from the Latin fala ("scaffold") and spongia ("sponge"), referring to the open framework of the skeleton. It superficially resembles Haplistion but is monaxial.[2] 5 specimens of Falospongia are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise under 0.1% of the community.[3]

  1. ^ Rigby, J. K. (1986). "Sponges of the Burgess shale (Middle Cambrian), British Columbia". Palaeontographica Canadiana (2).
  2. ^ a b Rigby, J. K.; Collins, D. (2004). "Sponges of the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale and Stephen Formations, British Columbia". ROM contributions in science. 1. ISBN 0-88854-443-X. ISSN 1710-7768.
  3. ^ Caron, Jean-Bernard; Jackson, Donald A. (October 2006). "Taphonomy of the Greater Phyllopod Bed community, Burgess Shale". PALAIOS. 21 (5): 451–65. Bibcode:2006Palai..21..451C. doi:10.2110/palo.2003.P05-070R. JSTOR 20173022. S2CID 53646959.