Parent taxon: Demospongea according to W. Kiessling 2004
See also Hill 1981
Sister taxa: Agelasida, Atrochaetetes, Bauneia, Blastochaetetes, Burgundiidae, Ceractinomorpha, Chondrosida, Choristida, Clavaxinellida, Consinocodium, Desmacellidae, Dictyonellidae, Epipolasida, Guadalupiida, Hadromerida, Halichondrida, Haplosclerida, Hemiasterellidae, Heteroscleromorpha, Infexiostella, Janussenia, Karatubulus, Keratosa, Lithistida, Lovcenipora, Meandripetra, Metschnikowia, Myxospongiae, Operculospongia, Paraaplysinofibria, Permosphincta, Petrosina, Poecilosclerida, Polymastidae, Ptychochaetetes, Raspailiidae, Riasanospongia, Scopalinidae, Spongillina, Spongiopsammia, Stelligeridae, Tabulospongida, Tetractinellida, Tetractinomorpha, Timeidae, Trachycladidae, Vauxiidae, Verticillitida
Subtaxa: Cambrophyllum Chaetetidae Conochaetetes Cryptolichenariidae Desmidoporidae Favosichaetetidae Magnicanalifera Obscurospongia Tiverinidae
Ecology: stationary epifaunal suspension feeder
Distribution:
• Eocene of Morocco (1 collection), Spain (1)
• Cretaceous of Austria (1), Bulgaria (1), France (2), Georgia (1), Greece (1), Hungary (1), the Marshall Islands (1), Slovenia (1), Ukraine (2)
• Jurassic of Algeria (1), Austria (1), Bulgaria (1), Canada (1: Nova Scotia), Ethiopia (1), Italy (4), Morocco (1), Portugal (2), Slovenia (5)
• Triassic of India (3), Iran (2), Israel (1), Italy (6), Japan (2), Oman (1), Slovenia (5), Spain (1), Tajikistan (1), Turkey (1), the United Arab Emirates (1), United States (1: Alaska)
• Permian of China (7), Japan (1), Oman (2)
• Carboniferous of Belgium (1), France (1), Greenland (1), Ireland (1), Japan (1), the Russian Federation (1), Spain (4), Svalbard and Jan Mayen (2), Turkey (1), Ukraine (7), the United Kingdom (1), United States (2: Kansas, Oklahoma)
• Givetian of China (1)
• Devonian of Afghanistan (11), Australia (1), Belgium (3), Canada (2: Manitoba, Northwest Territories), Germany (3), Morocco (1), the Russian Federation (5), Spain (2), Tajikistan (1), Ukraine (2), the United Kingdom (1), Vietnam (7)
• Silurian of Australia (1), Belarus (2), the Czech Republic (6), the Russian Federation (1), Ukraine (1)
• Ordovician of Argentina (1), Canada (5: Newfoundland and Labrador, Nunavut, Quebec), China (7), Estonia (3), Kazakhstan (2), the Russian Federation (4), the United Kingdom (1), United States (2: Alaska)
Total: 164 collections including 188 occurrences