Description

Hamptonia christi
Sponge
Early Ordovician (Arenigian)
Fezouata Formation
Mecissi-Zagora Region, Draa Valley, Morocco

27mm sponge on 210mm matrix.

Soft-bodied. Lagerstatten.

Hamptonia is a genus of sea sponge known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale.  This specimen extends its chronologic range into the Early Ordovician.

Here’s a sponge from a recently-discovered deposit. Nice contrast against the matrix.