Calcarea

The calcareous sponges or calcereans are sponges that make up the class Calcarea, characterized by spicules made of calcium carbonate in the form of high-magnesium calcite or aragonite. While the spicules in most species are triradiate, some species may possess two- or four-pointed spicules. Unlike the far more common siliceous sponges, calcareans lack microscleres, tiny spicules which reinforce the flesh. In addition, their spicules develop from the outside-in, mineralizing within a hollow organic sheath.

Calcarea

Ernst Haeckel · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
calcareous spongePBDB
Sits inside
PoriferaPBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB
Life habit
intermediate-level epifaunalPBDB
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB
Vision
blindPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 513 million years on record.

The record covers at least 514.5 Mya to 774 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 521 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Cambrian — about 3 of 827 occurrencesCambrianOrdovician — about 2 of 827 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 0 of 827 occurrencesDevonian — about 0 of 827 occurrencesCarboniferous — about 0 of 827 occurrencesPermian — about 66 of 827 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 827 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 16 of 827 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 142 of 827 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 7 of 827 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 72 of 827 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 265 of 827 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 142 of 827 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 81 of 827 occurrencesPaleocene — about 9 of 827 occurrencesEocene — about 15 of 827 occurrencesOligocene — about 3 of 827 occurrencesMiocene — about 2 of 827 occurrencesPliocene — about 0 of 827 occurrencesPleistocene — about 1 of 827 occurrences531–514 Mya — about 2 occurrences514–496 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences461–443 Mya — about 2 occurrences301–283 Mya — about 2 occurrences283–266 Mya — about 21 occurrences266–248 Mya — about 43 occurrences248–230 Mya — about 83 occurrences230–213 Mya — about 30 occurrences213–195 Mya — about 47 occurrences195–177 Mya — about 4 occurrences177–159 Mya — about 86 occurrences159–142 Mya — about 253 occurrences142–124 Mya — about 73 occurrences124–106 Mya — about 58 occurrences106–89 Mya — about 39 occurrences89–71 Mya — about 42 occurrences71–53 Mya — about 21 occurrences53–35 Mya — about 13 occurrences35–18 Mya — about 3 occurrences18–0 Mya — about 3 occurrences514.5 Mya774 ka531 Mya0 Mya

827 occurrences of Calcarea on record, most of them in the Late Jurassic. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

827 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

129 formations

Cassian — 46.64°N, 12.20°ECassian — 46.55°N, 11.93°ECassian — 46.52°N, 11.96°ECassian — 46.53°N, 12.07°ECassian — 46.58°N, 12.25°ECassian — 46.51°N, 11.76°ECaillasses de la Basse Ecarde — 49.00°N, 0.00°ESandgate — 51.67°N, 1.58°WChangxing — 29.42°N, 110.90°EChangxing — 29.92°N, 106.43°EChangxing — 30.38°N, 106.85°EChangxing — 30.08°N, 108.86°EChangxing — 24.91°N, 105.13°EChangxing — 30.92°N, 119.99°EChangxing — 30.05°N, 108.93°EChangxing — 25.83°N, 106.08°EMaokou — 24.90°N, 105.15°EMaokou — 24.92°N, 105.12°EAlcobaça — 39.55°N, 8.98°WMassenkalk — 48.68°N, 10.22°ECastle Hayne — 34.63°N, 77.73°WCastle Hayne — 34.63°N, 77.75°WCastle Hayne — 34.44°N, 77.89°WCastle Hayne — 34.44°N, 77.83°WZone de Pierre jaune — 47.05°N, 7.08°EDachstein — 47.45°N, 13.07°EDachstein — 47.58°N, 14.47°EDachstein — 47.50°N, 13.50°EDachstein — 47.63°N, 13.17°EDachstein — 48.00°N, 16.42°ESan Cassiano — 46.65°N, 12.21°EFonzaso — 45.73°N, 11.62°EFonzaso — 45.93°N, 11.90°EQal´eh Dokthar Limestone — 33.92°N, 57.33°EUpper Greensand — 51.21°N, 2.18°WSchrattenkalk — 47.42°N, 10.22°ESchrattenkalk — 47.43°N, 10.25°EGrès verts helvétiques — 46.00°N, 6.68°EGrès verts helvétiques — 46.13°N, 6.81°EGrès verts helvétiques — 46.00°N, 6.34°ENayband — 32.37°N, 57.47°ENayband — 33.60°N, 51.00°ENayband — 32.52°N, 57.37°ENayband — 32.94°N, 51.93°EAbadia — 38.98°N, 9.07°WAbadia — 38.98°N, 8.97°WBeykoz — 41.63°N, 33.28°EWhite Chalk — 54.52°N, 13.63°EPlassen — 47.60°N, 13.68°EPlassen — 47.58°N, 13.98°EPlassen — 47.63°N, 13.80°EAbenaki — 43.69°N, 60.83°WGreat Oolite — 51.39°N, 2.32°WWoburn Sand — 52.00°N, 0.77°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Calcarea has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 105 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 397 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Calcarea and its relatives

Late Jurassic

Where Calcarea and its relatives were recorded in the Late Jurassic.

Found in the same rock

3,599 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 338 sites for Calcarea, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

196 references

Each of the 827 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 184 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Calcarea

Credit
Ernst Haeckel
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Macoma calcarea · fmnh:invertebrate zoology:71115

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPorifera through timeFormations of the Late JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Bowerbank 1864