Pennsylvanian sponges from the Graford Formation, Wise County, Texas

Abstract

A variety of Pennsylvanian sponges have been recovered from exposures along the shore of Lake Bridgeport and in nearby areas in Wise County, north-central Texas. Calcareous and hexactinellid sponges have locally weathered out of the Jasper Creek Shale (= upper Lake Bridgeport Shale) and the overlying Devil's Den Limestone of the Graford Formation, of Late Pennsylvanian Missourian age.The Demospongea protomonaxonidsHeliospongia excavataKing, 1933, andCoelocladia spinosaGirty, 1908 are represented in the studied collections by several specimens, as is the new genus and speciesLuterospongia texana.Agelasid ceractinomorph demosponges are represented by the fissispongiidFissispongia jacksboroensisKing, 1938, the maeandrostiidMaeandrostia kansasensisGirty, 1908, and the girtycoeliid,Girtycoelia typicaKing, 1933. Sponges of the Class Hexactinellida and the amphidiscophorid Family Stiodermatidae are represented by an extensive suite of specimens of the new genus and speciesDermosphaeroidalis irregularis.Representatives of the hexactinellid reticulosid sponges include some unusually large specimens of the vase-shapedEndoplegma calathusFinks, 1960, of the Family Docodermatidae, and fragmental specimens of?Stereodictyum orthoplectumFinks, 1960, of the Family Stereodictyidae. One unclassified root tuft fragment is also described and illustrated.Much of this diverse sponge fauna was endemic to the western embayment of Pangaea.