Discovery of missing link between demosponges and hexactinellids confirms palaeontological model of sponge evolution

Abstract The two major extant groups of siliceous sponges, Demospongiae and Hexactinellida, are generally regarded as sister groups forming the clade Silicea, although the nature of their last common ancestor is uncertain. The fossil record contains a diverse range of basal demosponges that appear t...

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Autores principales:	Joseph P. Botting, Yuandong Zhang, Lucy A. Muir
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/dc16c1a9b40f4c0ba76aa8c7e0c3ca50
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:dc16c1a9b40f4c0ba76aa8c7e0c3ca502021-12-02T15:04:51ZDiscovery of missing link between demosponges and hexactinellids confirms palaeontological model of sponge evolution10.1038/s41598-017-05604-62045-2322https://doaj.org/article/dc16c1a9b40f4c0ba76aa8c7e0c3ca502017-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-05604-6https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract The two major extant groups of siliceous sponges, Demospongiae and Hexactinellida, are generally regarded as sister groups forming the clade Silicea, although the nature of their last common ancestor is uncertain. The fossil record contains a diverse range of basal demosponges that appear to have evolved from hexactine-bearing reticulosan ancestors, although a compelling morphological intermediate has not previously been discovered. Here we describe a new species of fossil sponge, Conciliospongia anjiensis gen. et sp. nov., from the Late Ordovician (~444 Ma) Anji Biota of South China. This species has a reticulate, tufted skeleton of minute monaxon spicules, characteristic of the fossil demosponge family Hazeliidae and modern heteroscleromorphs, with hexactine spicules and a globose body form inherited from reticulosan ancestors. This transitional morphology had previously been hypothesized in palaeontological studies. This morphological intermediate between two extant classes further confirms siliceous sponge monophyly and demosponge–hexactinellid spicule homology, and supports the primitive, stem-silicean interpretation of simpler-structured fossil reticulosans.Joseph P. BottingYuandong ZhangLucy A. MuirNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-7 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Joseph P. Botting Yuandong Zhang Lucy A. Muir Discovery of missing link between demosponges and hexactinellids confirms palaeontological model of sponge evolution
description	Abstract The two major extant groups of siliceous sponges, Demospongiae and Hexactinellida, are generally regarded as sister groups forming the clade Silicea, although the nature of their last common ancestor is uncertain. The fossil record contains a diverse range of basal demosponges that appear to have evolved from hexactine-bearing reticulosan ancestors, although a compelling morphological intermediate has not previously been discovered. Here we describe a new species of fossil sponge, Conciliospongia anjiensis gen. et sp. nov., from the Late Ordovician (~444 Ma) Anji Biota of South China. This species has a reticulate, tufted skeleton of minute monaxon spicules, characteristic of the fossil demosponge family Hazeliidae and modern heteroscleromorphs, with hexactine spicules and a globose body form inherited from reticulosan ancestors. This transitional morphology had previously been hypothesized in palaeontological studies. This morphological intermediate between two extant classes further confirms siliceous sponge monophyly and demosponge–hexactinellid spicule homology, and supports the primitive, stem-silicean interpretation of simpler-structured fossil reticulosans.
format	article
author	Joseph P. Botting Yuandong Zhang Lucy A. Muir
author_facet	Joseph P. Botting Yuandong Zhang Lucy A. Muir
author_sort	Joseph P. Botting
title	Discovery of missing link between demosponges and hexactinellids confirms palaeontological model of sponge evolution
title_short	Discovery of missing link between demosponges and hexactinellids confirms palaeontological model of sponge evolution
title_full	Discovery of missing link between demosponges and hexactinellids confirms palaeontological model of sponge evolution
title_fullStr	Discovery of missing link between demosponges and hexactinellids confirms palaeontological model of sponge evolution
title_full_unstemmed	Discovery of missing link between demosponges and hexactinellids confirms palaeontological model of sponge evolution
title_sort	discovery of missing link between demosponges and hexactinellids confirms palaeontological model of sponge evolution
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/dc16c1a9b40f4c0ba76aa8c7e0c3ca50
work_keys_str_mv	AT josephpbotting discoveryofmissinglinkbetweendemospongesandhexactinellidsconfirmspalaeontologicalmodelofspongeevolution AT yuandongzhang discoveryofmissinglinkbetweendemospongesandhexactinellidsconfirmspalaeontologicalmodelofspongeevolution AT lucyamuir discoveryofmissinglinkbetweendemospongesandhexactinellidsconfirmspalaeontologicalmodelofspongeevolution
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Discovery of missing link between demosponges and hexactinellids confirms palaeontological model of sponge evolution

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