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Protospongia conica
Taxonomy
Protospongia conica was named by Rigby and Harris (1979). It is a compression fossil. Its type locality is GSC C-27725 Ware, which is in a Llandovery/Wenlock marginal marine siltstone in Canada.
Sister species lacking formal opinion data
Synonymy list
| Year | Name and author |
|---|---|
| 1979 | Protospongia conica Rigby and Harris |
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If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.
†Protospongia conica Rigby and Harris 1979
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Diagnosis
| Reference | Diagnosis | |
|---|---|---|
| Rigby and Harris 1979 | A single specimen with spindle- shaped skeletal net that is composed primarily of stauracts with some hexacts. Stauracts slightly elongate vertically. Rectangular quadrules occur between stauracts. Spicular ranks are not apparent. Longitudinal rays of stauracts converge at both ends of sponge body. Some stauract rays protrude from sponge surface.
The specimen is about 20 mm in height and 9 mm in width. Stauracts have ray diameters of approximately 0.03–0.05 mm and ray lengths of 1.2 mm (vertical rays) and 0.8 mm (horizontal rays). Quadrules vary in size, between 0.6 and 0.8 mm in maximum dimensions. Protospongia conica was first described from the Silurian in northern British Columbia (Rigby and Harris, 1979). The specimen from the Hetang Formation resembles the Silurian specimens with its pointed base and somewhat irregularly arranged spicules. The Silurian speci- mens, however, are larger (up to 44 mm in height) and have ranked stauracts (0.04–0.1 mm in ray diameter and 0.4–1.0 mm in ray length). Their oscular end does not narrow as much as the Hetang specimen. Considering these differences and the Cambrian age of the Hetang specimen, it is possible that the Hetang specimen represents a new proto- sponge species. More specimens are needed to differentiate the Hetang and the Silurian populations. At present, we tentatively place the single specimen from the Hetang Formation in open nomenclature, Protospongia cf. conica. |
Measurements
No measurements are available
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| Source: g = genus, c = class | |||||
| References: Kiessling 2004, Caron and Jackson 2008 | |||||
Age range: base of the Meishucunian to the top of the Lochkovian or 530.70000 to 410.80000 Ma
Collections (5 total)
| Time interval | Ma | Country or state | Original ID and collection number |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meishucunian | China (Anhui) | Protospongia conica (96370) | |
| Llandovery - Wenlock | Canada (British Columbia) | Protospongia conica (type locality: 120574 120575) | |
| Wenlock | Canada (British Columbia) | Protospongia conica (120526) | |
| Lochkovian | USA (Nevada) | Protospongia conica (120531) |