Hazelia
Hazelia is a genus of spicular Cambrian demosponge known from the Burgess Shale, the Marjum formation of Utah, and possibly Chengjiang. It was described by Charles Walcott in 1920.

Smith609 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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- Sits inside
- HazeliidaePBDB
- Diet
- suspension feederPBDB
- Life habit
- epifaunalPBDB
- Motility
- stationary, attachedPBDB
- Vision
- blindPBDB, for Porifera
Time the record covers
At least 11 million years on record.
The record covers at least 516 Mya to 504.5 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 521 Mya to 497 Mya.
70 occurrences of Hazelia on record, most of them in the Cambrian. 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
70 occurrences- Cambrian100%
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
9 formations
- Burgess Shale Formation · Chancellor Group47
- Yu'anshan Formation10
- Yuanshan Formation4
- Kinzers Formation3
- Marjum Limestone Formation2
- Stephen Formation1
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The named rock units Hazelia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.
Hazelia and its relatives
CambrianWhere Hazelia and its relatives were recorded in the Cambrian.
Found in the same rock
597 taxa- Diraphora27 sites
- Liangshanella27 sites
- Ehmaniella burgessensis26 sites
- Lingulella26 sites
- Selkirkia columbia26 sites
- Wiwaxia corrugata26 sites
- Burgessia25 sites
- Marrella splendens25 sites
- Micromitra25 sites
- Pentagnostus praecurrens25 sites
- Ottoia prolifica24 sites
- Scenella amii24 sites
- Sidneyia24 sites
- Yohoia24 sites
- Canadaspis perfecta23 sites
- Haplophrentis carinatus23 sites
- Morania23 sites
- Waptia fieldensis23 sites
- Laggania22 sites
- Naraoia compacta22 sites
- Pollingeria grandis21 sites
- Selkirkia21 sites
- Hurdia20 sites
- Nisusia20 sites
The Paleobiology Database records 49 sites for Hazelia, and this reads all 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
15 references- Paleoecology of the Greater Phyllopod Bed community, Burgess Shale26
- Sponges of the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale and Stephen Formations, British Columbia19
- Diversity and species abundance patterns of the early Cambrian (Series 2, Stage 3) Chengjiang Biota from China8
- The diverse radiodont fauna from the Marjum Formation of Utah, USA (Cambrian: Drumian)2
- Spatial variation in the diversity and composition of the Lower Cambrian (Series 2, Stage 3) Chengjiang Biota, Southwest China2
- Community palaeoecology of the early Cambrian Maotianshan Shale biota: Ecological dominance of priapulid worms2
- The first occurrence of the Burgess Shale demosponge Hazelia palmata Walcott, 1920, in the Cambrian of Utah2
- Lower Cambrian Olenellus zone of the Appalachians2
- The Qingjiang biota - A Burgess Shale-type fossil Lagerstätte from the early Cambrian of South China1
- Palaeontology and depositional environments of ancient brine seeps in the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale at The Monarch, British Columbia, Canada1
- Lower Cambrian Burgess Shale-type fossil associations of South China1
- The Burgess Shale and associated Cambrian formations west of the Fossil Gully Fault Zone on Mount Stephen, British Columbia1
Each of the 70 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. 3 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 content1
Picture of Hazelia
- Source
- Wikipedia/Commons
- Credit
- Smith609
- Licence
- CC BY-SA 3.0
- Commercial use
- the licence allows it
No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.
The description on this site
- Source
- Wikipedia, “Hazelia”
- 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 itHazeliidae through timeFormations of the CambrianThe world it lived on
Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Walcott 1920