Marine Biodiversity » Marine Sponges » Calcarea » Calcarea Classification » Subclass Calcinea

Definition: Choanosomal skeleton composed of bundles of biradiates without any rigid structure; cortical skeleton composed chiefly of a tangential layer of tripods (triradiates) and curved oxeotes (biradiates).

Scope: Single genus.

Reviews: Vacelet (1977, 1981), Hartman (1982).

Genera:
Lelapiella Vacelet, 1977 (type species: Lelapiella incrustans Vacelet, 1977) - cortex reinforced by large equiangular triradiates ornamented on the external convex side with mamelons, and also with cortical diactinal spicules curved at 120° at the center. The basal layer, in contact with the substrate, is made up of a dense network of curved oxeas. Tracts of oxeas run from the cortex diagonally through the choanosome to the basal layer of spicules (Hartman, 1982).