Characella Sollas, 1886

Cárdenas, Paco & Rapp, Hans Tore, 2012, A review of Norwegian streptaster-bearing Astrophorida (Porifera: Demospongiae: Tetractinellida), new records and a new species, Zootaxa 3253, pp. 1-52 : 4

Genus Characella Sollas, 1886 incertae sedis

Diagnosis: Astrophorida with a majority of amphiasters as streptasters (never spirasters) and with at least two clearly separated categories of monaxonic spicules: the longest (microxea, microstyles, microstongyloxeas) and the smallest category (microrhabds with oxea or strongyle ends) ( Cárdenas et al. 2011).

Note on phylogenetic position: Molecular data suggests that Characella is phylogenetically close to Astrophorida lithistids and belongs to a large clade temporarely called ‘Clade A’ which includes the Geodiidae , Ancorinidae , Pachastrellidae , Corallistidae , Theonellidae and Phymaraphiniidae ( Cárdenas et al. 2011) .