''Calceolispongia'' (literally "shoe sponge") is a diverse

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of cladid

crinoid Crinoids are marine animals that make up the Class (biology), class Crinoidea. Crinoids that are attached to the sea bottom by a stalk in their adult form are commonly called sea lilies, while the unstalked forms are called feather stars or coma ...

s that lived along the shores of eastern

Pangaea Pangaea or Pangea () was a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. It assembled from the earlier continental units of Gondwana, Euramerica and Siberia during the Carboniferous approximately 335 millio ...

that correspond to

Timor Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western part. The Indonesian part, al ...

and Western Australia, today. When the first fossils were discovered, they were mistakenly thought to be

sponges 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 ...

, hence the generic name. Later, similarly shaped fossils were found, and (correctly) identified as those of a crinoid, and named "''Dinocrinus''." ("Terrible Lily") It was soon realized that ''Dinocrinus'' and ''Calceolispongia'' were the same, and ''Dinocrinus'' is now regarded as a junior synonym.

References

Cladida Permian crinoids Prehistoric crinoid genera Prehistoric echinoderms of Oceania {{paleo-crinoidea-stub