Pirania

Not to be confused with Piranha.

Pirania is an extinct genus of sea sponge known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale and the Ordovician Fezouata formation.^[3] It is named after Mount St. Piran, a mountain situated in the Bow River Valley in Banff National Park, Alberta. It was first described in 1920 by Charles Doolittle Walcott.^[4] 198 specimens of Pirania are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 0.38% of the community.^[5]

Pirania Temporal range: Burgess Shale–Middle Ordovician PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N [1]
Fossil specimen
Restoration model
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Porifera
Class:	Demospongiae
Order:	†Protomonaxonida
Family:	†Piraniidae
Genus:	†Pirania Walcott, 1920
Type species
Pirania muricata Walcott, 1920
Species
Pirania auraenum Botting, 2007[1] Pirania llanfawrensis Botting, 2004[2] Pirania muricata Walcott, 1920