Leucosolenida Explained

Leucosolenida is an order of sponges in the class Calcarea and the subclass Calcaronea.^[1] Species in Leucosolenida are calcareous, with a skeleton composed exclusively of free spicules without calcified non-spicular reinforcements.^[2]

According to Systema Porifera (2002), Lucosolenida contains 9 families, ranging from fully asconoid forms (Leucosoleniidae) to fully leuconoid forms. These body plans are on a continuum based on an increasingly complex skeletal system and compartmentalized choanocytes. A few sources (such as the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, 2004) place non-asconoid families into a separate order, Sycettida.^[3] Leucosolenids have a poor fossil record, with only a few ambiguous grantiid fossils reported from the Jurassic and Carboniferous.

Families

• Achramorphidae Borojevic et al., 2002 (formerly known as Staurorrhaphidae)
• Amphoriscidae Dendy, 1892
• Grantiidae Dendy, 1892
• Heteropiidae Dendy, 1892
• Jenkinidae Borojevic et al., 2000
• Lelapiidae? Dendy & Row, 1913
• Leucosoleniidae Minchin, 1900
• Sycanthidae Lendenfeld, 1891
• Sycettidae Dendy, 1892 (sometimes known as Syconidae)

References

http://species-identification.org/species.php?species_group=sponges&selected=beschrijving&menuentry=groepen&record=Leucosolenida

Notes and References

1. Web site: WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Leucosolenida. www.marinespecies.org. 2019-03-17.
2. Borojevic . Radovan . Boury-Esnault . Nicole . Vacelet . Jean . 2000 . A revision of the supraspecific classification of the subclass Calcaronea (Porifera, class Calcarea) . Zoosystematica . 22 . 2 . 203–263.
3. 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. .