Minchinellidae

{{Short description|Order of sponges}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossilrange|Jurassic|recent}}

| image = Fossil Porosphaera Globularis Rethen (Vordorf), Germany.jpg

| image_caption = Porosphaera globularis fossil from the Cretaceous of Germany

| parent_authority = Vacelet, 1981

| taxon = Minchinellidae

| authority = Dendy & Row, 1913

| subdivision_ranks = Genera

| subdivision = see text.

| synonyms = * Bactronellidae Laubenfels, 1955

• Petrostomidae Laubenfels, 1936
• Porosphaeridae Laubenfels, 1955

}}

Minchinellidae is a family of calcareous sponges, members of the class Calcarea.{{Cite web|url=http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=131618|title=WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Minchinellidae Dendy & Row, 1913|website=www.marinespecies.org|language=en|access-date=2019-03-20}} It is the only family in the monotypic order Lithonida. The families Petrobionidae (genus Petrobiona){{Citation |last=Vacelet |first=Jean |title=Order Lithonida Vacelet, 1981, Recent |date=2002 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236833857 |work=Systema Porifera |pages=1185–1192 |editor-last=Hooper |editor-first=John N. A. |access-date= |place=Boston, MA |publisher=Springer US |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-1-4615-0747-5_121 |isbn=978-0-306-47260-2 |last2=Borojevic |first2=Radovan |last3=Boury-Esnault |first3=Nicole |last4=Manuel |first4=Michaël |editor2-last=Van Soest |editor2-first=Rob W. M. |editor3-last=Willenz |editor3-first=Philippe}} and Lepidoleuconidae (genus Lepidoleucon)Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology Part E, Revised. Porifera, Volume 3: Classes Demospongea, Hexactinellida, Heteractinida & Calcarea, xxxi + 872 p., 506 fig., 1 table, 2004, available [https://journals.ku.edu/InvertebratePaleo/issue/view/455 here]. {{ISBN|0-8137-3131-3}}. have also sometimes been placed within Lithonida, though more recently they have been moved to the order Baerida.Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology Part E, Revised. Porifera, Volumes 4 & 5: Hypercalcified Porifera, Paleozoic Stromatoporoidea & Archaeocyatha, liii + 1223 p., 665 figs., 2015, available [https://journals.ku.edu/InvertebratePaleo/issue/view/538 here]. {{ISBN|978-0-9903621-2-8}}. Thanks to their hypercalcified structure, minchinellids have a fossil record reaching as far back as the Jurassic Period.