Heteractinida

Heteractinida is an extinct grade of Paleozoic (Cambrian–Permian) sponges, sometimes used as a class or order. They are most commonly considered paraphyletic with respect to Calcarea, though some studies instead argue that they are paraphyletic relative to Hexactinellida. Heteractinids can be distinguished by their six-pronged (snowflake-shaped) spicules, whose symmetry historically suggested a relationship with the triradial calcarean sponges.

Heteractinida

Apokryltaros · CC BY 4.0 · 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
PoriferaPBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Porifera
Life habit
intermediate-level epifaunalPBDB
Motility
stationaryPBDB
Vision
blindPBDB
Environment
marinePBDB

Time the record covers

At least 315 million years on record.

The record covers at least 521 Mya to 205.7 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 530.7 Mya to 201.4 Mya.

Cambrian — about 121 of 231 occurrencesCambrianOrdovician — about 15 of 231 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 28 of 231 occurrencesDevonian — about 27 of 231 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 33 of 231 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 6 of 231 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 231 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 0 of 231 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 1 of 231 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 231 occurrences537–526 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences526–514 Mya — about 68 occurrences514–503 Mya — about 42 occurrences503–492 Mya — about 9 occurrences492–480 Mya — about 2 occurrences480–469 Mya — about 3 occurrences469–457 Mya — about 6 occurrences457–446 Mya — about 3 occurrences446–435 Mya — about 8 occurrences435–423 Mya — about 19 occurrences423–412 Mya — about 1 occurrence400–389 Mya — about 8 occurrences389–377 Mya — about 16 occurrences377–366 Mya — about 2 occurrences366–355 Mya — about 2 occurrences343–332 Mya — about 2 occurrences332–320 Mya — about 12 occurrences320–309 Mya — about 3 occurrences309–298 Mya — about 15 occurrences298–286 Mya — about 1 occurrence286–275 Mya — about 2 occurrences275–263 Mya — about 1 occurrence263–252 Mya — about 2 occurrences206–195 Mya — about 1 occurrence521 Mya205.7 Mya537 Mya195 Mya

231 occurrences of Heteractinida on record, most of them in the Cambrian. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. 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

231 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

77 formations

Shabakty — 43.47°N, 69.87°EShabakty — 43.62°N, 69.73°EShabakty — 43.60°N, 69.33°EShabakty — 43.47°N, 69.97°EShabakty — 43.68°N, 69.68°EShabakty — 43.60°N, 69.45°EBeshtash — 42.17°N, 72.00°EBurgess Shale — 51.44°N, 116.47°WBurgess Shale — 51.38°N, 116.43°WGraham — 32.73°N, 98.64°WGraham — 33.27°N, 98.11°WGraham — 33.20°N, 98.11°WGraham — 33.13°N, 98.16°WGraham — 33.10°N, 98.40°WGraham — 33.16°N, 98.17°WParara — 34.70°S, 137.71°EParara — 34.06°S, 138.02°EParara — 34.73°S, 137.63°EParara — 34.80°S, 137.69°ERacine — 43.04°N, 87.91°WRacine — 43.05°N, 88.01°WRacine — 42.73°N, 87.78°WTindall Limestone — 14.25°S, 131.38°ETindall Limestone — 14.42°S, 132.33°ETindall Limestone — 13.68°S, 131.32°ETindall Limestone — 13.77°S, 131.33°ETindall Limestone — 13.77°S, 131.38°ETindall Limestone — 14.35°S, 131.57°EManning Canyon Shale — 40.42°N, 112.17°WManning Canyon Shale — 40.32°N, 112.27°WAjax Limestone — 30.58°S, 138.32°EKulpara Limestone — 34.92°S, 137.80°EParara Limestone — 34.92°S, 137.80°EOnondaga — 42.93°N, 78.82°WOnondaga — 42.97°N, 78.08°WSan Juan — 30.00°S, 69.00°WSan Juan — 31.00°S, 69.00°WSan Juan — 31.01°S, 68.76°WSan Juan — 30.58°S, 68.85°WSan Juan — 30.41°S, 68.69°WMoscow — 42.90°N, 78.04°WMoscow — 42.81°N, 77.90°WMoscow — 42.77°N, 77.83°WMoscow — 42.82°N, 77.57°WMoscow — 42.78°N, 77.33°WXinji — 33.27°N, 112.98°EXinji — 34.90°N, 106.85°EPercha — 32.88°N, 110.58°WPercha — 33.08°N, 110.85°WPercha — 31.42°N, 109.93°WChainman Shale — 38.88°N, 113.82°WChainman Shale — 39.40°N, 113.77°WChainman Shale — 39.18°N, 113.72°WRochester Shale — 43.10°N, 79.06°WRochester Shale — 43.20°N, 77.53°WOsgood — 39.07°N, 85.25°WWayne — 35.38°N, 88.00°WWayne — 38.08°N, 87.02°WJamal — 32.87°N, 50.07°EWindfall — 39.20°N, 116.26°WManning Canyon — 40.53°N, 112.30°WKulpara — 34.70°S, 137.71°EKulpara — 34.73°S, 137.63°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Heteractinida has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 53 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 9 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Heteractinida and its relatives

Cambrian

Where Heteractinida and its relatives were recorded in the Cambrian.

Found in the same rock

1,785 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 157 sites for Heteractinida, 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

75 references

Each of the 231 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. 63 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 Heteractinida

Credit
Apokryltaros
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Heteractinida was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

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 CambrianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Hinde 1888)