Superfamily CLADOCOCCOIDEA Haeckel, 1862 n. stat.

Cladococcida Haeckel, 1862: 238, 364 [as a family].

Heteracanthidea – Bertolini 1937: 1269-1270 [as an order, junior homonym].

Liosphaericae – Campbell 1954: D48 [as a superfamily]. — Nakaseko 1957: 23 [as a superfamily]. — Dieci 1964: 184 [as a superfamily].

Cenodiscicae – Campbell 1954: D76 [nomen dubium, as a superfamily]. — Nakaseko 1957: 23 [as a superfamily].

Cenodiscilae – Campbell 1954: D76 [nomen dubium, as a subsuperfamily].

Etmosphaeracea – Loeblich & Tappan 1961: 221 [as a superfamily].

Liosphaeracea – Pessagno & Blome 1980: 229. — Blome 1984: 350. — Pessagno et al. 1984: 22 ( sensu emend.). — Cheng 1986: 173.

Arachnosphaerilae – Dumitrica 1984: 98 [as a subsuperfamily].

Liosphaeroidea – Matsuzaki et al. 2015: 12.

DIAGNOSIS. — One large spherical latticed cortical shell with no internal skeletal structure.

REMARKS

The Cladococcoidea consist of Ethmosphaeridae (including Clade F1) and Cladococcidae (including Clade F2), grouped in a major group, the Clade F1: Heliosphaera and Liosphaera in Ethmosphaeridae; and the Clade F2: Arachnospongus, Diplosphaera (originally Astrosphaera) and Cladococcus in Cladococcidae (Sandin et al. 2021). As this superfamily is primarily marked by a hollow large cortical shell, the Mesozoic Xiphostylidae Haeckel 1882 may likewise belong to the Cladococcoidea .