Amphidiscosida is an order of
hexactinellid sponge
Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate throug ...
s characterized by amphidisc spicules, that is, spicules having a stellate disk at each end. They are in the class
Hexactinellida
Hexactinellid sponges are sponges with a skeleton made of four- and/or six-pointed siliceous spicules, often referred to as glass sponges. They are usually classified along with other sponges in the phylum Porifera, but some researchers con ...
and are the only order classified in the monotypic subclass Amphidiscophora. Species of the order Amphidiscosida have existed since the Ordovician period, and still flourish today.
Families
*
Hyalonematidae Gray, 1857[Gray, J. E. (1857). Synopsis of the families and genera of axiferous zoophytes or barked corals. ''Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London'', 25(1), 278–294.]
*
Monorhaphididae Ijima, 1927[Ijima, I. (1927). The Hexactinellida of the Siboga Expedition. In Weber, M. (Ed.), ''Siboga-Expeditie'' (1–383). Leiden: E. J. Brill.]
*
Pheronematidae Gray, 1870[Gray, J. E. (1870). Notes on anchoring sponges (in a letter to Mr. Moore). ''The Annals and Magazine of Natural History'', (34), 309–312.]
References
Hexactinellida
Sponge orders
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