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A late-Ediacaran crown-group sponge animal

Nature volume 630, pages 905–911 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Sponges are the most basal metazoan phylum1 and may have played important roles in modulating the redox architecture of Neoproterozoic oceans2. Although molecular clocks predict that sponges diverged in the Neoproterozoic era3,4, their fossils have not been unequivocally demonstrated before the Cambrian period5,6,7,8, possibly because Precambrian sponges were aspiculate and non-biomineralized9. Here we describe a late-Ediacaran fossil, Helicolocellus cantori gen. et sp. nov., from the Dengying Formation (around 551–539 million years ago) of South China. This fossil is reconstructed as a large, stemmed benthic organism with a goblet-shaped body more than 0.4 m in height, with a body wall consisting of at least three orders of nested grids defined by quadrate fields, resembling a Cantor dust fractal pattern. The resulting lattice is interpreted as an organic skeleton comprising orthogonally arranged cruciform elements, architecturally similar to some hexactinellid sponges, although the latter are built with biomineralized spicules. A Bayesian phylogenetic analysis resolves H. cantori as a crown-group sponge related to the Hexactinellida. H. cantori confirms that sponges diverged and existed in the Precambrian as non-biomineralizing animals with an organic skeleton. Considering that siliceous biomineralization may have evolved independently among sponge classes10,11,12,13, we question the validity of biomineralized spicules as a necessary criterion for the identification of Precambrian sponge fossils.

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Fig. 1: Holotype of H. cantori gen. et sp. nov., NIGP-176531.
Fig. 2: Hierarchical rectangles on the surface of H. cantori gen. et sp. nov., holotype, NIGP-176531.
Fig. 3: More specimens of H. cantori gen. et sp. nov.
Fig. 4: Morphological reconstruction and phylogenetic position of H. cantori gen. et sp. nov.

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Data availability

Fossils illustrated in this paper are accessioned in the NIGP (catalogue nos. NIGP-176531 to NIGP-176538, NIGP-155870, NIGP-201942). Data collected or generated during this study are included in this article and its Supplementary Information. The nomenclature of H. cantori gen. et sp. nov. is registered in zoobank and the Life Science Identifier for this publication is urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:06F779B0-BA00-41AF-A6F7-A552BA8F6BF1.LSID.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Science Fund for Creative Research Groups of National Natural Science Foundation of China (41921002, 42130207, 41972005, 42272005), National Key R&D Program of China (2022YFF0800100, 2022YFF0802700) and the US National Science Foundation (EAR-2021207 to S.X.). We thank J. Li and W. Yang for help in fossil excavation; W. Yuan and Y. Chen for assistance with laser scanning; G. Mussini for assistance with phylogenetic analyses; and N. Butterfield, Z. Zhao and X. Xian for useful discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China

    Xiaopeng Wang, Zhe Chen, Chengxi Wu, Yarong Liu, Bin Wan, Ke Pang, Chuanming Zhou & Xunlai Yuan

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Xiaopeng Wang, Zhe Chen, Chengxi Wu, Yarong Liu, Bin Wan, Ke Pang & Xunlai Yuan

  3. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Xiaopeng Wang & Alexander G. Liu

  4. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, Nanjing, China

    Chuanming Zhou

  5. Department of Geosciences and Global Change Centre, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    Shuhai Xiao

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Contributions

X.Y., S.X., Z.C., X.W. and B.W. designed the study. X.W., S.X., A.G.L., Z.C., X.Y. and B.W. interpreted the data. Z.C. coordinated the fieldwork. X.W. performed the phylogenetic analyses, compiled data and figures and composed the first draft of the manuscript with substantial contributions from S.X., A.G.L. and all co-authors.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Bin Wan, Xunlai Yuan or Shuhai Xiao.

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Nature thanks Marc Laflamme, Lucy Muir and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Peer reviewer reports are available.

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Extended data figures and tables

Extended Data Fig. 1 Geological map and stratigraphic column.

Star in a marks fossil locality on the southern margin of the Huangling anticline. Star in the inset map marks the location of the Huangling anticline on the South China block. Star in b shows the stratigraphic level from which Helicolocellus was discovered. Reproduced from Xiao, S., Chen, Z., Pang, K., Zhou, C. & Yuan, X. The Shibantan Lagerstätte: Insights into the Proterozoic–Phanerozoic transition. J. Geol. Soc. London 178, jgs2020-135 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2020-135 (ref. 73). Sources of geochronometric data: 551.1 ± 0.7 Ma, 632.5 ± 0.5 and 635.2 ± 0.6 Ma from Condon et al.74; 543.4 ± 3.5 Ma from Huang et al.75; and 526.4 ± 5.4 Ma from Okada et al.76. Dashed arrows indicate alternative correlations of the radiometric date from the Miaohe Member77,78,79. Cam. = Cambrian; Cry. = Cryogenian; Fm. = Formation; HMJ = Hamajing Member; Mbr. = Member.

Extended Data Fig. 2 Additional specimens of Helicolocellus cantori gen. et sp. nov.

a, Positive relief of NIGP-176534. Stratigraphic orientation uncertain. Note irregular arrangement of boxes. b, Thin section perpendicular to bedding plane and along dashed line in a, showing boundaries of first order rectangles (arrowed). c, Positive relief on bed sole, NIGP-176535, showing fine grooves along the fringe of specimen. d, Positive relief on bed sole, NIGP-176538. f, fringe. Scale bars, 30 mm (a, d), 10 mm (b), 50 mm (c).

Extended Data Fig. 3 Palaeozoic sponges and candidate sponges with skeletons organized in hierarchical latticework.

a, Pyritized protospongiid Diagoniella, NIGP-155870, from the Mantou Formation of Henan Province, Wuliuan Stage (Cambrian)80. b, Magnification of box in a. Box in b marks dislocated spicules. c. Devonian Hydnoceras, PRI 76741 (Digital Atlas of Ancient Life of the Paleontological Research Institution, Ithaca, New York81; license CC0 1.0), showing helically arranged skeletal tracts. d, Hydnoceras, NIGP-201942, from the Upper Devonian Chemung Formation of New York. e, Magnification of the box in d, showing impressions of spicules. f, Devonian sponge-like fossil Pontagrossia50, from the Ponta Grossa Formation of Paraná State (image provided by Artur Chahud and Thomas Fairchild). Scale bars, 1 mm (a, b), 40 mm (c), 20 mm (d), 10 mm (e), 5 mm (f).

Extended Data Fig. 4 Phylogenetic position of Helicolocellus cantori gen. et sp. nov.

All taxa coded in the Bayesian analysis are included in this figure. Numbers are posterior probabilities for nodes.

Extended Data Fig. 5 Additional phylogenetic topologies run as sensitivity analyses.

a, Ctenophores constrained as sister-group to all other animals58. b. Relationships of Porifera classes constrained by recent molecular phylogenies10 (see Supplementary Information for further details). Numbers are posterior probabilities for nodes.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Information about the phylogenetic database, a list of characters, topological constraints and the data matrix.

Reporting Summary

Peer Review file

Supplementary Data

All measurements of Helicolocellus specimens reported in the main text, with specimen numbers and types of measurements identified in the titles of the sheets.

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Wang, X., Liu, A.G., Chen, Z. et al. A late-Ediacaran crown-group sponge animal. Nature 630, 905–911 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07520-y

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