ArticleScience advances2026
Independent origins of spicules reconcile paleontological and molecular evidence of sponge evolutionary history.
Article in Science advances, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Re-evaluating molecular clock maximum age calibrations revives pre-Ediacaran divergence estimates for animals.Science advances · 2026Article
- Reproduction and Development in Calcareous Sponges: A Panorama of the Last Two Centuries.Molecular reproduction and development · 2026Review
- Sex Determination in Sponges.Molecular reproduction and development · 2026Review
- Co-option of Lysosomal Machinery for Sponge Biosilicification.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Toward a genomic understanding of the tree of life.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- The chromosomal genome sequence of the sponge,Wellcome open research · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
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Abstract
Sponges (Porifera) are ecosystem engineers that play a critical role in global biogeochemical processes. Their evolution is key to understanding Neoproterozoic paleoecology but remains mired in controversy. Molecular timescales suggest a Tonian or Cryogenian origin, while their oldest unequivocal fossils consist of disarticulated siliceous spicules from the Late Ediacaran. We derived a new, dated sponge phylogeny and tested whether ancestral sponges had mineralized skeletons. We resolve the sponge phylogeny in good agreement with current knowledge and date their origin to the early Ediacaran. Our results suggest that early sponges were not biomineralized and that both biosilicification and biocalcification evolved independently multiple times across Porifera. We reconcile fossil evidence and molecular estimates of sponge evolution by showing that the Neoproterozoic history of Porifera is limited to the Ediacaran and providing evidence suggesting that sponges are largely absent from the Ediacaran record because they were yet to evolve biomineralized skeletons.
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