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Chondrocladia
Genus of sponges / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chondrocladia is a genus of carnivorous demosponges of the family Cladorhizidae.[3] Neocladia was long considered a junior synonym, but recently become accepted as a distinct genus.[4]
Chondrocladia Temporal range: Pleistocene(?) to Present day | |
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The ping-pong tree sponge, Chondrocladia lampadiglobus [1][2] | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Porifera |
Class: | Demospongiae |
Order: | Poecilosclerida |
Family: | Cladorhizidae |
Genus: | Chondrocladia Thomson, 1873 |
Species | |
33; see text | |
Synonyms | |
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33 named species are placed in this genus at present, but at least two additional undescribed ones are known to exist, while some of the described ones are known only from a few specimens or (e.g. the enigmatic Chondrocladia occulta) just a single one, and their validity and/or placement in Chondrocladia is doubtful. Chondrocladia sponges are stipitate, with a stalk frequently anchored in the substrate by rhizoids and an egg-shaped body, sometimes with branches that end in inflatable spheres.[5][6]
Fossils assignable to this genus are known since the Pleistocene,[7] less than 2 million years ago. But given its deep sea habitat, Chondrocladia may well have been around for much longer ā perhaps since the Mesozoic, as characteristic spicules (termed "microcricorhabds" or "trochirhabds"), almost identical to those of some living Chondrocladia, are known from Early Jurassic rocks almost 200 million years old.[6]