Protospongiidae (Finks and Rigby, 2004)

Family Protospongiidae ? Hinde, 1887

Remarks.—The Protospongiidae ( Finks and Rigby 2004) includes many different thin-walled, reticulate sponges, some of which have since been placed in separate families on the basis of specific derived features (e.g., Asthenospongiidae Botting, 2004 ). The group is clearly paraphyletic and doubtless includes a range of groups that could reasonably be separated as distinct monophyletic families. We follow here the restricted familial definition of Botting and Muir (2011), which means that many of these isolated spicules cannot be assigned confidently to the Protospongiidae , and may be better regarded as indeterminate reticulosans (discussed separately below). Other slabs in the collection show dissociated stauractine and triactine spicules, which are characteristic of the Kiwetinokia Walcott, 1920 .