Stioderma Sponge

Taxonomy

Sponge

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Porifera
Class: Hexactinellida
Order: Lyssacinosa
Family: Stiodermatidae
Genus: Stioderma
Species: Stioderma sp.
Author Citation Fink 1960

Geological Time Scale

Eon: Phanerozoic
Era: Paleozoic
Period: Carboniferous
Sub Period: Pennsylvanian
Epoch: Middle
International Age: Moscovian

Stratigraphy

Naco Formation

Provenance

Collector: Me
Date Collected: 09/28/2020
Acquired by: Field Collection

Dimensions

Width: 40 mm
Thickness: 25 mm

Location

Roberts Mesa
Gila County
Arizona
United States

• arizona
• desmoinian
• gila county
• moscovian
• naco formation
• pennsylvanian
• porifera
• sponge
• stioderma

Comments

Stioderma coscinum

from Rigby and Mapes 2000.

 

 

Sponges are common in the Pennsylvanian Naco Formation of central Arizona. A friend and I collected pieces of Stioderma sponges near Roberts Mesa. Stioderma sponges have a set of very distinctive features that make an ID much easier than other Arizona sponges. They have spicules that are distally modified into layered rounded pustules that are set atop a surface with funnel shaped holes. My sponge has an edge that curves under and is covered with pustules. Further research might reveal what species they are.

 

Stioderma genus erected by Finks:

Finks, Robert M. (1960). Late Paleozoic sponge faunas of the Texas region: The siliceous sponges. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 120(1):1-160 found at 

http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/handle/2246/1220

 

Stioderma coscinum found in Desmoinian Age Millsap Lake Formation in Texas:

Rigby, J. K. and Mapes, R. H. 2000. Some Pennsylvanian and Permian sponges from southwestern Oklahoma and north-central Texas. Brigham Young University Geology Studies, v. 45, p. 25–67.

http://geology.byu.edu/Home/sites/default/files/geo_stud_vol_45_rigby_mapes.pdf

 

Spanish Stioderma:

Diego C. García-Bellido, & Rigby, J. (2004). Devonian and Carboniferous Sponges from Spain. Journal of Paleontology, 78(3), 431-455. Retrieved September 30, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4094858