Sphaerospongia Explained

Sphaerospongia is an extinct genus of organism found in marine beds of Devonian age. Its classification is enigmatic, but it is typically placed among the sponges^[1] or the receptaculites.^[2] The organism has a surface covered with hexagonal plates, and some early taxonomists placed it among the echinoderms.^[3] It is found in close association with the horn coral Tabulophyllum traversensis in the Onate Formation of New Mexico, US, where it provides a substrate for the coral.^[4]

Notes and References

1. Day . J. . Uyeno . T. . Norris . W. . Witzke . B.J. . Bunker . B.J. . 1996 . Middle-Upper Devonian relative sea-level histories of central and western North American interior basins . Geological Society of America Special Papers . 306 . 259–275 . 9780813723068 . 13 January 2022.
2. Book: Nitecki . Matthew H. . Mutvei . Harry . Nitecki . Doris V. . Quaestio disputata: Morphological Reductionism . Receptaculitids . 1999 . 109–142 . 10.1007/978-1-4615-4691-7_6. 978-1-4613-7124-3 .
3. Book: Nitecki . Matthew H. . Receptaculitids : a phylogenetic debate on a problematic fossil taxon . 1999 . Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers . New York . 9780306462016 . 13 January 2022.
4. Sorauf. James E.. The rugose coral Tabulophyllum traversensis from the Oñate Formation (Middle Devonian) of the Mud Springs Mountains, New Mexico. Journal of Paleontology. en. 61. 1. 14–20. 10.1017/S0022336000028158. 0022-3360. 1987. 1305128. 1987JPal...61...14S . 131923020 .