''Choiaella'' is an extinct genus of

sea 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 ...

ranging from the

Chengjiang Chengjiang (; earlier Tchinkiang) is a city located in Yuxi, Yunnan Province, China, just north of Fuxian Lake. Administrative divisions Chengjiang City has 2 subdistricts and 4 townships. ;2 subdistricts * Fenglu () * Longjie () ;4 towns ...

lagerstatten until the Lower Silurian. It is closely related to the genera ''

Choia ''Choia'' is a genus of extinct demosponge ranging from the Cambrian until the Lower Ordovician periods. Fossils of ''Choia'' have been found in the Burgess Shale in British Columbia; the Maotianshan shales of China; the Wheeler Shale in Ut ...

'' and '' Allantospongia'', which the Chengjiang fauna species ''C. radiata'' coexisted

sympatric In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species s ...

ally with. The species ''C. scotica'' is known from the

Caradoc Caradoc Vreichvras (; Modern cy, Caradog Freichfras, ) was a semi-legendary ancestor to the kings of Gwent. He may have lived during the 5th or 6th century. He is remembered in the Matter of Britain as a Knight of the Round Table, under the ...

-aged fine sandstone of Wallace's Cast, Southern Uplands of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

. The Silurian species has not been formally named.

References

Maotianshan shales fossils Protomonaxonida Silurian extinctions Cambrian first appearances Prehistoric sponge genera Fossil taxa described in 1995 {{silurian-animal-stub