Kingdom Animalia Class Demospongae Rank Genus | Phylum Porifera Family Anthaspidellidae | |
Species C. undulata
Walcott 1920 Similar Halichondrites, Pollingeria, Takakkawia, Worthenella | ||
Capsospongia is a middle Cambrian sponge genus known from 2 specimens in the Burgess shale. It has a narrow base, and consists of bulging rings which get wider further up the sponge, resulting in a conical shape. Its open top was presumably used to expel water that had passed through the sponge cells and been filtered for nutrients.
Like most sponges, Capsospoingia had a spicular skeleton; long spicules parallel to the growth direction formed columns which were connected by shorter lateral spicules.
References
Capsospongia Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA