Individual siliachoates (silica skeleton scaffolding) can be arranged tightly within the sponginocyte or crosshatched and fused together.

[1] The group, as a part of the phylum Porifera, has been named Silicispongia Schmidt, 1862 and Silicea Bowerbank, 1864.

Some scientists believe that Porifera is polyphyletic/paraphyletic, and that some sponges, the Calcarea, are a separate phylum which was the first to diverge from the main line of kingdom Animalia.

During the Triassic, siliceous sponges grew reefs similar to calcarea of the modern era.

During the Cretaceous period, diatoms became so successful that they significantly decreased the amount of silica present in sea water, after which "siliceous sponges could never again form reefs.