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Ensiferites Sponge
Images: 
By DPS Ammonite
Taxonomy
Sponge
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Porifera
Class: Heteractinida
Order: Octactinellida
Family: Astraeospongiidae
Genus: Ensiferites
Species: Ensiferites brandenburgi
Author Citation Rigby et al. 1979
Geological Time Scale
Eon: Phanerozoic
Era: Paleozoic
Period: Devonian
Sub Period: None
Epoch: Late
International Age: Fammenian
Stratigraphy
Percha Formation
Provenance
Collector: Self
Date Collected: 01/10/2021
Acquired by: Field Collection
Dimensions
Length: 7.5 cm
Width: 7 cm
Location
Brandenburg Mountain
Pinal County
Arizona
United States
Comments
This is a Late Devonian sponge collected from the Percha Formation found at the type locality on Brandenburg Mountain in Pinal County, Arizona. This sponge, has the largest complete head reported. Although mostly covered in calcareous sediments and maybe caliche it has the best preserved spicules of the species that I have seen; better than the photos in the Rigby reference below.
First photo is a close up of the star shaped spicules that average 1 mm across.Second photo is of the top of sponge that is 70-75 mm across.First published in:Rigby, J Keith; Dietmar Schumacher; and Sally J. Meader. 1979. The genus Ensiferites, a Devonian astraeosponge of North America. Journal of Paleontology 53(2):475-493.
Meader, Sally J. 1976. PALEOECOLOGY OF THE UPPER DEVONIAN PERCHA FORMATION OF SOUTH-CENTRAL ARIZONA. Master’s Thesis, DEPARTMENT OF GEOSCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA, Tucson, Arizona.
Geological map:
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