The sponge pump as a morphological character in the fossil record

• Published in: Paleobiology
• Main Authors: Aragonés Suarez, Pablo, Leys, Sally P.
• Other Authors: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2022
• Subjects: Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pab.2021.43; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0094837321000439

Abstract The timing of early animal evolution remains one of the biggest conundrums in biology. Molecular data suggest Porifera diverged from the metazoan lineage some 800 Ma to 650 Ma, which contrasts with the earliest widely accepted fossils of sponges at 535 Ma. However, the lack of criteria by w...