Eiffelia

Eiffelia is an extinct genus of sponges known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale as well as several Early Cambrian small shelly fossil deposits. It is named after Eiffel Peak, which was itself named after the Eiffel Tower. It was first described in 1920 by Charles Doolittle Walcott.^[5] It belongs in the Hexactinellid stem group.^[6] 60 specimens of Eiffelia are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 0.11% of the community.^[7]

Eiffelia Temporal range: Early Cambrian–Burgess Shale PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N [1]
Fossil of E. globosa
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Porifera
Informal group:	†Heteractinida
Family:	†Eiffeliidae
Genus:	†Eiffelia Walcott, 1920
Type species
†Eiffelia globosa Walcott, 1920
Species
†Eiffelia araniformis (Missarzhevsky in Missarzhevsky & Mambetov, 1981)[2] †Eiffelia globosa Walcott, 1920
Synonyms[3]
Lenastella Missarzhevsky in Missarzhevsky & Mambetov, 1981 Actinoites Duan, 1984 Niphadus Duan, 1984 Eiffelia araniformis synonymy[4] Lenastella araniformis Missarzhevsky in Missarzhevsky & Mambetov, 1981 Lenastella aculeata Missarzhevsky in Missarzhevsky & Mambetov, 1981 Lenastella mucronata Missarzhevsky in Missarzhevsky & Mambetov, 1981 Lenastella umbonata Missarzhevsky in Missarzhevsky & Mambetov, 1981 Actinoites universalis Duan, 1984 Actinoites simplex Duan, 1984 Niphadus xihaopingensis Duan, 1984 Niphadus complanatus Duan, 1984

Eiffelia generally have star-shaped six-rayed spicules, with rays diverging at 60°, occasionally with a seventh ray perpendicular to the other six.

Species

Two species are known:

• †Eiffelia globosa Walcott, 1920: This species is known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale. In life, it had a globe-like shape and was up to 6 cm in diameter.
• †Eiffelia araniformis (Missarzhevsky in Missarzhevsky & Mambetov, 1981): This species is known from several Early Cambrian small shelly fossil deposits in the Siberian Platform, Mongolia, China, Europe, and Australia. It was originally described in the genus Lenastella. It was moved to Eiffelia by Bengtson et al. (1990).