Scientists discovered a 480-million-year-old phosphatic sponge in South China, making it the oldest known stromatoporoid and ...

Lophiostroma leizunia is unique among all known sponges for constructing its skeleton using fluorapatite, a phosphate mineral. This finding establishes the phylum Porifera (sponges) as the first ...

Sponges are sessile animals within the phylum Porifera. There are over 9,000 known species of sponge living in all parts of Earth's oceans, but estimates suggest that there could be as many as 25,000 ...

International scientists have uncovered the oldest known phosphatic stromatoporoid sponge, dating back approximately 480 million years to the Early Ordovician, in South China. Stromatoporoid ...