Chancelloria sp.

Chancelloria looks uncannily like a sponge. However, the skeleton of a sponge is made out of spicules, or solid spines made primarily of calcium. The Chancelloria has recently been found to have a hollow skeleton. Therefore its skeleton is made of sclerites and it cannot rightfully fit in the phylum porifera and it has instead been given its own phylum. Since there is no living creature like it, it is hard to fully understand the workings of a chancelloria. From its structure, it is thought that they operated much like a sponge, though the possibility still exists that it could move in some manner. The sclerites are all in a six-ray star shape.

About this specimen

This is a Chancelloria Eros from the Middle Cambria, Marjum formation, Millard County, Utah.

My Chancelloria fossil

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