Vauxia

Vauxia Temporal range: Cambrian Stage 3–Late Silurian[1] PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Vauxia from the Walcott Quarry of the Burgess Shale (Middle Cambrian)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	"Porifera"
Class:	Demospongiae
Order:	Verongiida
Family:	Vauxiidae
Genus:	Vauxia
Species
V. ampliata Rigby 1986 V. bellula Walcott, 1920 V. densa Walcott, 1920 V. dignata Walcott 1920 V. gracilenta Walcott, 1920 ?V. magna Rigby, 1980 V. venata Walcott 1920

Vauxia is an extinct genus of demosponge that had a distinctive branching mode of growth. Each branch consisted of a network of strands. Vauxia also had a skeleton of spongin (flexible organic material) common to modern day sponges. Much like Choia and other sponges, Vauxia fed by extracting nutrients from the water.

References

1. Botting, J. (2007). "‘Cambrian’ demosponges in the Ordovician of Morocco: Insights into the early evolutionary history of sponges". Geobios 40 (6): 737–748. doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2007.02.006.

External links

• "Vauxia gracilenta". Burgess Shale Fossil Gallery. Virtual Museum of Canada. 2011.
• Fauna and Flora of the Burgess Shale