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Minchinellidae

Minchinellidae is a family of calcareous sponges, members of the class Calcarea. It is the only family in the monotypic order Lithonida. The families Petrobionidae and Lepidoleuconidae have also sometimes been placed within Lithonida, though more recently they have been moved to the order Baerida. Thanks to their hypercalcified structure, minchinellids have a fossil record reaching as far back as the Jurassic Period.

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Jun 23, 2026
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Minchinellidae
Temporal range:
Porosphaera globularis fossil from the Cretaceous of Germany
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Porifera
Class: Calcarea
Order: Lithonida
Vacelet, 1981
Family: Minchinellidae
Dendy & Row, 1913
Genera

see text.

Synonyms
  • Bactronellidae Laubenfels, 1955
  • Petrostomidae Laubenfels, 1936
  • Porosphaeridae Laubenfels, 1955

Minchinellidae is a family of calcareous sponges, members of the class Calcarea.1 It is the only family in the monotypic order Lithonida. The families Petrobionidae (genus Petrobiona)2 and Lepidoleuconidae (genus Lepidoleucon)3 have also sometimes been placed within Lithonida, though more recently they have been moved to the order Baerida.4 Thanks to their hypercalcified structure, minchinellids have a fossil record reaching as far back as the Jurassic Period.34

Description

Minchinellids are hypercalcified sponges. They have a robust skeleton of tetractine (four-rayed) calcareous spicules. The tetractine spicules are propeller-shaped, with three curved actines (rays) radiating perpendicular to a straight basal actine. These spicules may be linked by their basal actines or cemented together by calcite. The skeleton is reinforced with layers of loose diapason (tuning fork-shaped) spicules. Minchinellid sponges have a leuconoid canal system.34

List of genera

  • †Bactronella Hinde, 1884 [Jurassic–Miocene, Holocene?]3
  • Minchinella Kirkpatrick, 1908 [Holocene]
  • Monoplectroninia Pouliquen & Vacelet, 1970 [Holocene]
  • †Muellerithalmia Reitner, 1987 [Upper Jurassic]3
  • Petrostroma Döderlein, 1892 [Cretaceous–Holocene]
  • Plectroninia Hinde, 1900 [Jurassic?, Cretaceous–Holocene]
  • †Porosphaera Steinmann, 1878 [Cretaceous]3
  • †Porosphaerella Welter, 1911 [Cretaceous]3
  • †Retispinopora Brydone, 1912 [Cretaceous–Paleocene]3
  • †Sagittularia Welter, 1911 [Cretaceous]3
  • Tulearinia Vacelet, 1977 [Holocene]
References

References

  1. "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Minchinellidae Dendy & Row, 1913". www.marinespecies.org. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
  2. Vacelet, Jean; Borojevic, Radovan; Boury-Esnault, Nicole; Manuel, Michaël (2002), Hooper, John N. A.; Van Soest, Rob W. M.; Willenz, Philippe (eds.), "Order Lithonida Vacelet, 1981, Recent", Systema Porifera, Boston, MA: Springer US, pp. 1185–1192, doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-0747-5_121, ISBN 978-0-306-47260-2{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
  3. Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology Part E, Revised. Porifera, Volume 3: Classes Demospongea, Hexactinellida, Heteractinida & Calcarea, xxxi + 872 p., 506 fig., 1 table, 2004, available here. ISBN 0-8137-3131-3.
  4. Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology Part E, Revised. Porifera, Volumes 4 & 5: Hypercalcified Porifera, Paleozoic Stromatoporoidea & Archaeocyatha, liii + 1223 p., 665 figs., 2015, available here. ISBN 978-0-9903621-2-8.
External links