Calcarea

Leucosolenia botryoides, photographed by Bernard Picton.

Belongs within: Animalia.

Calcarea, the calcareous sponges, is a group of sponges characterised by the possession of calcitic spicules secreted intercellularly within an organic sheath, and the absence of distinct microscleres (Botting & Butterfield 2005).

<==Calcarea [Calcispongiae]
    |--Gravestockia EL11
    `--+--+--Leucetta EL11
       |  `--Clathrina EL11
       |       |--C. cerebrum C-SC03
       |       |--C. clathrus T10
       |       `--C. coriacea F79
       `--+--Sycettidae BJ06
          |    |--Sycetta strobilus H04
          |    `--Sycon EL11
          |         |--S. calcaravis F79
          |         |--S. defendens F79
          |         `--S. faulkneri Ilan, Gugel et al. 2003 BJ06
          `--Leucosolenia EL11
               |--L. blanca F79
               |--L. botryoides F79
               |--L. cavata F79
               |--L. complicata F79
               |--L. cordata F79
               |--L. osculum F79
               `--L. variabilis T10

Calcarea incertae sedis:
  Dendya FV09
  Aphroceras FV09
  Calcifolium ME94
  Pericharax heterorhaphis (Polejaff 1883) FV09
  Poliopogon amadov T10
  Paramurrayona [Pharetronida] F79
    `--P. corticata F79
  Scypha F79
    |--S. ciliata F79
    `--S. okadai F79
  Heteractinida EL11
    |--Eiffelia Walcott 1920 [Eiffeliidae] BB05
    |    `--E. globosa CM98
    `--Eiffelospongia BB05
  Protoleucon [Calcaronea] EL11
  Canistrumella BB05
  Ascandra H04
    |--A. pinus H04
    `--A. sertularia H04
  Ascilla gracilis H04
  Syculmis synapta H04
  Sycurus primitivus H04
  Sycodendron ampulla H04
  Sycarium elegans H04
  Sycortis quadrangulata H04
  Sycandra compressa H04
  Sycaltis perforata H04

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BJ06] Barnich, R., & D. Janussen. 2006. Die Typen und Typoide des Naturmuseums Senckenberg, Nr. 86. Type catalogue of the Porifera in the collections of the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Senckenbergiana Biologica 86 (2): 127-144.

[BB05] Botting, J. P. & N. J. Butterfield. 2005. Reconstructing early sponge relationships by using the Burgess Shale fossil Eiffelia globosa, Walcott. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 102: 1554-1559.

[C-SC03] Cavalier-Smith, T., & E. E.-Y. Chao. 2003. Phylogeny of Choanozoa, Apusozoa, and other Protozoa and early eukaryote megaevolution. Journal of Molecular Evolution 56: 540-563.

[CM98] Conway Morris, S. 1998. The Crucible of Creation. Oxford University Press: Oxford.

[EL11] Erwin, D. H., M. Laflamme, S. M. Tweedt, E. A. Sperling, D. Pisani & K. J. Peterson. 2011. The Cambrian conundrum: early divergence and later ecological success in the early history of animals. Science 334: 1091-1097.

[FV09] Fromont, J. & M. A. Vanderklift. 2009. Porifera (sponges) of Mermaid, Scott and Seringapatam Reefs, north Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 77: 89-103.

[F79] Fry, W. G. 1979. Taxonomy, the individual and the sponge. In Biology and Systematics of Colonial Organisms (G. Larwood & B. R. Rosen, eds) pp. 49-80. Academic Press: London.

[H04] Haeckel, E. 1899-1904. Kunstformen der Natur. Bibliographisches Institut: Leipzig und Wien.

[ME94] Maybury, C. A., & K. R. Evans. 1994. Pennsylvanian phylloid algae interpreted as shallow-water xenophyophores. Lethaia 27: 29-33.

[T10] Taylor, T. G. 1910. The Archaeocyathinae from the Cambrian of South Australia with an account of the morphology and affinities of the whole class. Memoirs of the Royal Society of South Australia 2 (2): 55-188.