Pirania auraeum
The Protomonaxonida are a heterogeneous group of primitive fossil sponges usually included within the desmosponges. However, they have also occasionally been linked to the order Reticulosa, a group with hexactinellid affinities, so their relationships are crucial for understanding the origins of the various classes of sponges today. Sponges are among the earliest recognizable animals in the fossil record. Although there is general agreement that they were one of the first animal groups to evolve, the relationship of sponges to other animals is uncertain: we still do not know whether the first animal was a sponge or whether they are specialized organisms that evolved from an earlier animal. Understanding the early evolution of fossil sponges is critical to resolving these uncertainties, but while living sponges are readily divided into four distinct classes, the earliest fossil sponges are often ambiguous. One important group of early fossil sponges are the protomonaxonids, which are generally considered early examples of demosponges (the dominant living class).


Era: Paleozoic
Period: Lower Ordovician
Stage: Floian (477.7 - 470.0 Ma)
Location: Djbel Bou Zéroual, Region of Drâa-Tafilalet, Zagora Province , Morocco
Coordinates: 30 ° 33'10.9 "N 5 ° 57'14.8" W
Sponge size: 11 x 11 mm / 0,43 x 0,43"
Matrix measurements: 100 x 49 x 24 mm / 3,94 x 1,93 x 0,94"
Weight: 129 g / 0,286 lb
Description: Fezouata formation or shale Fezouata contains extraordinary fossil because the animals were buried quickly deposits storm formed by silts and clays, favorable conditions for the storage of soft tissue (now pyritized or altered due to a mixture of oxides and iron hydroxides, hence its orange-red color).
The fossils belong to two intervals, Tremadocian and Floian, much less rich in fossils.


Source consulted: https://palaeo-electronica.org/content/component/content/article/163-339/420-abstracts


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