1998/02/06 by Chia-Wei Li, Junyuan Chen, Tzu-En Hua · 8 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Environmental Science · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Marine Sponges and Natural Products #Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies #Echinoderm biology and ecology
paper · doi:10.1126/science.279.5352.879
openalex publication_date 1998/02/06 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Sponge remains have been identified in the Early Vendian Doushantuo phosphate deposit in central Guizhou (South China), which has an age of approximately 580 million years ago. Their skeletons consist of siliceous, monaxonal spicules. All are referred to as the Porifera, class Demospongiae. Preserved soft tissues include the epidermis, porocytes, amoebocytes, sclerocytes, and spongocoel. Among thousands of metazoan embryos is a parenchymella-type of sponge larvae having a shoe-shaped morphology and dense peripheral flagella. The presence of possible amphiblastula larva suggests that the calcareous sponges may have an extended history in the Late Precambrian. The fauna indicates that animals lived 40 to 50 million years before the Cambrian Explosion.