The Early Ordovician saw a transition in reef type from microbial-dominated buildups to gradually increasing skeletal frameworks, expressed as regionally heterogeneous constructional pathways. Among these early reef builders, Pulchrilamina Toomey and Ham, 1967 has long been regarded as a problematic laminar reef-builder of uncertain affinity. The genus was initially reported from Laurentia and has subsequently been recognized elsewhere only from South China. Here, we re-examine the type material of Pulchrilamina . The skeleton is composed of stacked laminar sheets alternating with sediment, internally composed of long, slender, spinose rod-like elements that are variably spaced, locally inclined, and protrude both downwards beneath the basal growth surface and upwards beyond the uppermost lamina into overlying sediment. These elements are weakly integrated with locally preserved cyst plate-like fabrics. Their morphology and mode of development differ from the pillar architectures that are characteristic of labechiid stromatoporoids, supporting the interpretation of the structures as spicular elements rather than as pillars of stromatoporoid-grade skeletal elements. Together, these features indicate that Pulchrilamina may record an intermediate skeletal grade between constructional organizations dominated by cyst plates and skeletal architectures characterized by spicular elements, and requires further examination using better-preserved material and additional valid taxa attributed to pulchrilaminids. The emergence of Pulchrilamina broadly coincided with the appearance of calcified reef-associated organisms, including stromatoporoids and bryozoans. These patterns support the interpretation that early skeletal reef ecosystems developed through multiple, regionally restricted constructional pathways that reflect an early phase of experimentation in hypercalcified skeletal construction among sponges.