One phosphatized Eocyathispongia specimen preserves a millimetre-scale, multicellular, three-tube body with funnel and osculum-like openings interpreted as sponge-grade anatomy.
claim:event:eocyathispongia-single-specimenAtlas home / References / Sponge grade body fossil with cellular resolution dating 60 Myr before the Cambrian
References / paperSponge grade body fossil with cellular resolution dating 60 Myr before the Cambrian
Yin, Z.; Zhu, M.; Davidson, E.H.; Bottjer, D.J.; Zhao, F.; Tafforeau, P.
Year2015
Source roleprimary-study
DOI / ID10.1073/pnas.1414577112
Fitness and scope
taxonomy · range · morphology · methods · biogeography · ecology
Describes the single phosphatized Eocyathispongia specimen using SEM and synchrotron tomography; the authors explicitly call for additional specimens.
Claim ledger
Eocyathispongia qiania is represented by one phosphatized specimen interpreted as sponge-grade; the profile does not convert that interpretation into crown-Porifera membership or direct ancestry.
claim:taxon:eocyathispongia:taxonomyThe profiled occurrence is restricted to the Weng’an biota of the Doushantuo Formation in Guizhou and does not establish a global range.
claim:taxon:eocyathispongia:biogeographyA sessile suspension-feeding mode is inferred from the proposed sponge-grade body plan; diet, pumping and habitat preference were not observed.
claim:taxon:eocyathispongia:ecologyThe holotype preserves a millimetre-scale multicellular body with three tubes, funnel-like openings and an osculum-like opening imaged by SEM and tomography.
claim:taxon:eocyathispongia:morphologyThe 609–600 Ma atlas envelope is a formation-level context for one specimen, not a global Eocyathispongia or Porifera FAD, LAD or lineage duration.
claim:taxon:eocyathispongia:fossil-range