Siphonia

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How to read a taxobox
Siphonia
S. pyriformis & S. tulipa
S. pyriformis & S. tulipa
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Porifera
Class: Hexactenellida
Order: Lithistida
Family: Hallirhoidae
Genus: Siphonia
Species
  • S. pyriformis
  • S. tulipa
  • S. koenigi
  • S. praemorsa
  • S. tubulosa
  • S. benstedii
  • S. pulchra

Siphonia ("Siphon") was a genus of extinct hallirhoid demosponges of the Upper Cretaceous. They lived in the Western Tethys Ocean, in what is now Europe. They all had distinctive pear-shaped bodies that were attached to the seafloor via a long stem. Their common name, "tulip sponges," refers to their suggestive shape, while the genus name refers to how the spongocoel (the main tube of the sponge body) runs almost the entire length of the sponge, as though it were almost a drinking straw.

[edit] External links

Reconstruction of S. pyriformis [1]

Reconstruction of S. tulipa [2]

Reconstruction of S. tulipa, S. pyriformis, and the related Hallirhoa costata [3]

Fossil S. pyriformis [4]