Eiffelia
| Eiffelia Temporal range: [1]
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|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Porifera |
| Informal group: | †"Heteractinida" |
| Family: | †Eiffeliidae |
| Genus: | †Eiffelia Walcott, 1920 |
| Type species | |
| †Eiffelia globosa Walcott, 1920
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| Species | |
| Synonyms[3] | |
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Eiffelia is an extinct genus of sponges known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale as well as several Early Cambrian small shelly fossil deposits. It is named after Eiffel Peak, which was itself named after the Eiffel Tower. It was first described in 1920 by Charles Doolittle Walcott.[4] It belongs in the Hexactinellid stem group.[5] Template:Gpb abundance
Eiffelia generally have star-shaped six-rayed spicules, with rays diverging at 60°, occasionally with a seventh ray perpendicular to the other six.
Species
Two species are known:
- †Eiffelia globosa Walcott, 1920: This species is known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale. In life, it had a globe-like shape and was up to 6 cm in diameter.
- †Eiffelia araniformis (Missarzhevsky in Missarzhevsky & Mambetov, 1981): This species is known from several Early Cambrian small shelly fossil deposits in the Siberian Platform, Mongolia, China, Europe, and Australia. It was originally described in the genus Lenastella. It was moved to Eiffelia by Bengtson et al. (1990).
- Synonyms:[6]
- Lenastella araniformis Missarzhevsky in Missarzhevsky & Mambetov, 1981
- Lenastella aculeata Missarzhevsky in Missarzhevsky & Mambetov, 1981
- Lenastella mucronata Missarzhevsky in Missarzhevsky & Mambetov, 1981
- Lenastella umbonata Missarzhevsky in Missarzhevsky & Mambetov, 1981
- Actinoites universalis Duan, 1984
- Actinoites simplex Duan, 1984
- Niphadus xihaopingensis Duan, 1984
- Niphadus complanatus Duan, 1984
References
- ^ Botting, J. (2007). "'Cambrian' demosponges in the Ordovician of Morocco: Insights into the early evolutionary history of sponges". Geobios. 40 (6): 737–748. doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2007.02.006.
- ^ Skovsted, C. B. (2006). "Small Shelly Fauna from the Upper Lower Cambrian Bastion and Ella Island Formations, North-East Greenland". Journal of Paleontology. 80 (6): 1087–1112. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2006)80[1087:SSFFTU]2.0.CO;2.
- ^ Wrona, R. (2004). "Cambrian microfossils from glacial erratics of King George Island, Antarctica" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 49 (1): 13–56.
- ^ Walcott, C. D. (1920). "Cambrian geology and paleontology IV:6—Middle Cambrian Spongiae". Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. 67: 261–364.
- ^ Botting, J. P.; Butterfield, N. J.; Valentine, J. W. (2005). "Reconstructing early sponge relationships by using the Burgess Shale fossil Eiffelia globosa, Walcott". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 102 (5): 1554–1559. doi:10.1073/pnas.0405867102. JSTOR 3374469. PMC 547825. PMID 15665105.
- ^ Elicki, O. (2011). "First skeletal microfauna from the Cambrian Series 3 of the Jordan Rift Valley (Middle East)" (PDF). Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists. 42: 153–173.
External links
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