Fossil Sponges Research Articles

Sponge fossil assemblage from the Early Cambrian Hetang Formation in southern Anhui

Abundant well-preserved large articulated sponge fossils and isolated spicules have been reported from the Early Cambrian Hetang Formation, southern Anhui Province. This unique epifaunal fossil assemblage dominated by articulated sponge fossils is called the Xidi Sponge Fauna. The sponge fauna lived in a quiet oxygenic environment below the storm wave base. Bloom of phytoplankton and rapid sedimentation rate resulted in the deposition of the black shales. Sufficient food supply, lack of other competitors, abundant ecological niches, and demand for oxygen during early Cambrian were in favor of the diversification and evolution of large sponges in the Early Cambrian.

Sequence similarities of protein kinase substrates and inhibitors with immunoglobulins and model immunoglobulin homologue: cell adhesion molecule from the living fossil sponge Geodia cydonium. Mapping of coherent database similarities and implications for evolution of CDR1 and hypermutation.

Sequences of immunoglobulin (Ig) domains of adhesive molecule GSAMS from the living fossil sponge Geodia cydonium were compared with the important motif of peptide protein kinase substrates and inhibitors (PKSI), detail PKSI sequences, and a common template sequence, derived from structures determined previously. We found the site-restricted sequence similarities to these peptide sequences predominantly in the GSAM Ig1 domain of GSAMS in the domain region related to corresponding Ig similarities detected earlier. Additional sequence block-related analysis revealed the presence of CDR1-like segments within PKSI-related regions and resulted in the detection of increased numbers of hypermutation motifs just in the CDR1-like segment of GSAM Ig1 (GSAM(cdrl.1)). In the following database searches with PKSI-related regions and GSAM(cdr1.1) we looked for: (i) peptide similarities present in the context of Ig domains or related structures in a large range of species from Archaea to Vertebrata, and (ii) some special nucleotide similarities.

DEVONIAN AND CARBONIFEROUS SPONGES FROM SPAIN

New collections of fossil sponges have been recovered from Devonian to Upper Carboniferous sections of Spain. These include two new hexactinellids from Devonian rocks of northwestern Spain: the small globular protospongiid Iberospongia globulara new genus and species, and the much larger, bowl-shaped, pelicaspongiid Asturiaspongia aqualiforma new genus and species. The three specimens of Asturiaspongia n. gen. were collected from the calcareous member of the Aguion Formation, of late Emsian age, at Arnao Beach, Asturias. This member has been interpreted as a developing patch reef. The single specimen of Iberospongia n. gen. was collected from late Zlichovian (Emsian) beds of the Cortes Member of the Abadia Formation, near Polentinos, Palencia. These beds represent the beginning of the transition to deeper water that took place during the Emsian and which lasted throughout the Devonian. Lower Carboniferous sponges have been collected from southern Spain. The hexactinellid Estrellaspongia irregularanew genus and species, is a thick-walled, basin-shaped pelicaspongiid with irregular, branched, inhalant canals and coarser irregular canals in a skeleton of irregularly oriented and spaced small hexactines. It is from late Visean rocks of Sierra de la Estrella, near Espiel in Cordoba. The reticulosid Stereodictyum orthoplectum Finks, 1960 was collected from Visean beds at Las Pilitas 2, Badajoz. It has a body wall of alternating layers of regularly spaced vertical and horizontal bundles of spicules in the quadrate-appearing skeleton. This is the first report of the genus from Europe and it is the oldest known occurrence of the genus. Upper Carboniferous sponges, Bashkirian to Moscovian-Kasimovian, have been collected from northern Spain. Demosponges include: Heliospongia excavataKing, 1933; Coelocladia spinosa Girty, 1908; small generically unidentifiable anthaspidellids; Haplistion Girty, 1908 sp. 1 and sp. 2; and a small fragmentary monaxonid demosponge of uncertain taxonomic assignment. Hexactinellida include the reticulosids, Stioderma perforatanew species, and Stioderma Finks, 1960 sp. A, and the new amphidiscosids, Ascospongiella capdevilae new genus and species and Hadrophragmos soleniscus new genus and species. Root tufts A, B, and C are of uncertain taxonomic assignment.

Some early collectors and collections of fossil sponges represented in The Natural History Museum, London

Fossil sponges have a long geological history dating to the late Precambrian, yet they are poorly understood both palaeobiologically and taxonomically. In part the latter is due to problems with preservation but further contributory factors are the number of key papers that date from the 19th Century, and the intrinsic problems in tracing, reidentifying and locating original data associated with the specimens used in these publications. The large collection of fossil sponges at The Natural History Museum, London (NHM) includes important material described by several 19th Century naturalists. Notable among these were J.S. Bowerbank, Gideon Mantell, J. Toulmin Smith, G.J. Hinde and H.A. Nicholson. Brief biographies of these naturalists are given, along with an introduction to their collections and additional paper archives held by the NHM.

MIDDLE ORDOVICIAN LITHISTID SPONGES FROM THE BACHU-KALPIN AREA, XINJIANG, NORTHWESTERN CHINA

Moderately diverse Middle Ordovician sponge faunas of Darriwilian (late Arenig to early Llanvirn) age have been discovered in outcrops in the Bachu-Kalpin area of the Tarim platform of Xinjiang, China. These are the first reported occurrences of early Paleozoic sponges from Xinjiang, China. These sponges occur in the Yijianfang and Dawangou Formations, which are of nearly the same age, but crop out in different areas of the platform margin. Fossil sponges discovered to date are the anthaspidellid lithistid sponges Archaeoscyphia minganensis (Billings, 1859); Hudsonospongia cyclostoma Raymond and Okulitch, 1940; Calycocoelia profunda sichuanensis Deng, 1990; Calycocoelia sp.; Pseudopalmatohindia sp.; Aulocopium sp.; Annulospongia tarimensis n. gen. and sp.; Rhopalocoelia kalpinensis n. sp.; Rhopalocoelia bachuensis n. sp.; and Zittelella xinjiangensis n. sp. They are preserved in reefal limestones and are associated with Calathium, cyanobacteria, and bryozoans, like in many North American assemblages.

Middle Ordovician lithistid sponges from the Bachu-Kalpin area, Xinjiang, northwestern China

Moderately diverse Middle Ordovician sponge faunas of Darriwilian (late Arenig to early Llanvirn) age have been discovered in outcrops in the Bachu-Kalpin area of the Tarim platform of Xinjiang, China. These are the first reported occurrences of early Paleozoic sponges from Xinjiang, China. These sponges occur in the Yijianfang and Dawangou Formations, which are of nearly the same age, but crop out in different areas of the platform margin. Fossil sponges discovered to date are the anthaspidellid lithistid sponges Archaeoscyphia minganensis (Billings, 1859); Hudsonospongia cyclostoma Raymond and Okulitch, 1940; Calycocoelia profunda sichuanensis Deng, 1990; Calycocoelia sp.; Pseudopalmatohindia sp.; Aulocopium sp.; Annulospongia tarimensis n. gen. and sp.; Rhopalocoelia kalpinensis n. sp.; Rhopalocoelia bachuensis n. sp.; and Zittelella xinjiangensis n. sp. They are preserved in reefal limestones and are associated with Calathium, cyanobacteria, and bryozoans, like in many North American assemblages.

Stromatoporoid-grade and other sponge fossils from the upper Krol Formation of the Lesser Himalaya (India) Implications for the biotic evolution around the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary interval

A study of fossils in thin sections of a sample from the uppermost Krol E Member in the Mussoorie Hills of the Lesser Himalaya, India, proves the existence of morphologically differentiated calcified sponges within the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary time interval. The sponges, described as Mussooriella kroli n.g., n.sp. and Maldeotaina composita n.g., n.sp. indicate the presence of different organization grades at the Precambrian-Cambrian interval. Mussooriella had a calcareous skeleton consisting of skeletal elements composed of an inner laminated part and a distinct peripheral layer with knobs. Maldeotaina is characterized by a stromatoporoid-grade growth pattern following a thalamid-grade pattern. The stromatoporoidgrade part of the skeletons reminds strongly on skeletal elements common in labechiid Ordovician and younger stromatoporoids. Maldeotaina also shows criteria of Early Cambrian fossils, originally described as stromatoporoids and later excluded from this group and transferred to archaeocyaths. These similarities point to an Early Cambrian age of the fossil-bearing horizon in the topmost Krol E Member. Growth cavities with crypts indicate that the sponges might have contributed to the formation of small metazoan reefs-like structures.

Spongolite: a hollow fibrous mineral from Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil

AbstractSpongolite from the State of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, contains the remains of fossil sponges and hollow needles or microcapillaries with uniform surfaces. The central tunnels are ∼1/10 to 1/2 of the cylinder's diameter. The material is essentially X-ray amorphous though it contains small amounts of orthosilicic acids. The other main elements were Ti and Fe. Spongolite may have uses as a sorbent, as a bioavailable silicon source or, after blending with glass waste, it can be used in the fabrication of lightweight products having a closed-cell structure, potentially useful as an industrial insulator.

Ordovician erratic sponges from Gotland, Sweden

Erratic Ordovician sponges (Porifera) from Gotland in the collections of the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm and the Natural Museum in Visby were subject of an inventory, the results of which are presented in this paper. The sponges are part of an extensive and diverse Upper Ordovician sponge fauna that lived partly in tropical shelf areas and partly in a continental basin of the palaeocontinent Baltica. As a result of their transportation most of these sponges are isolated silicified bodies without adhering sediment. Since no major Ordovician sponge fauna has been found in solid rocks of Baltoscandia, the source area of these erratics is unknown. The sponges from Gotland were deposited during the Weichselian glaciation. They have been compared with erratic Ordovician sponges from Germany, The Netherlands, and Poland by a quantitative method of research. Generic composition of the sponge association from Gotland is identical to that from Sadewitz/Sawidowice (Poland), which was deposited during the Saalian glaciation. There is also a similarity to the majority of sponges in the Dutch/German border region that were deposited in glaciofluvial sediments during the Menapian (Early Pleistocene). The characteristics of the sponges from the Lausitz area (Germany) and from the Isle of Sylt (Germany), which were deposited in Middle Miocene and Late Pliocene time, respectively, are different. A supposed bipartition of these associations is discussed and related to the palaeogeography and palaeoecology in the Late Ordovician. Extinction of the Baltic sponge fauna is possibly related to the glaciations during the Hirnantian (Late Ordovician). The importance of this fossil sponge fauna is emphasized.

Lower Carboniferous sponges from the Craven Reef Belt of North Yorkshire

SUMMARY Fossil sponges are significant elements in framework facies of Late Visean Cracoean reefs of northern England. In the Craven Reef Belt (North Yorkshire), lithistid demosponges, including Scheiia castletonense (Wolfenden 1959), Haplistion carbonaria (Wolfenden 1959) and Haplistion mega sp. nov., occur along with the less abundant, sphinctozoid demosponge Sollasia ramosa sp. nov. in this facies. Scheiia castletonense is an irregular globose to mound-shaped tricranocladinid hindiid sponge with irregular secondary branchlike growths in which the canal and skeletal structure are continuous with those of the globular part of the sponge. Both species of Haplistion are rhizomorinid lithistid sponges. Haplistion mega is a lobate sponge characterized by moderately coarse skeletal tracts that are relatively far apart, in contrast to the fine tracts and closer spacing in the more common globose to subspherical Haplistion carbonaria . The aporate ‘sphinctozoan’ Sollasia ramosa, commonly appears in the available sections as isolated spherical chambers because of its relatively loose branching habit and the beadlike to moniliform series of spherical chambers in each branch.

Lower Ordovician lithistid sponges from the eastern Yangtze Gorge area, Hubei, China

A moderately diverse assemblage of anthaspidellid demosponges has been recovered from reef-bearing carbonate platform deposits of Early Ordovician, Tremadoc to early Arenig age, in Hubei Province. The sponges occur, in part, in the Tremadoc Fenxiang Formation and, in part, in the lower Arenig Honghuayuan Formation at several localities near Yichang, Xintan, and Liujiachang. Archaeoscyphia nana Beresi and Rigby, 1993, Archaeoscyphia pulchra (Bassler, 1927), and Archaeoscyphia minganensis (Billings, 1859) occur with the new genera and species, Jianghania yichangensis and Velellospongia adnata, and the new species Rhopalocoelia sanxiaensis and Anthaspidella lamellata. This is the first reported occurrence of Anthaspidella in Ordovician rocks of China. Great numbers of these species of fossil sponges have been found in Lower Ordovician outcrops, particularly in the eastern Yangtze Gorge area of Hubei Province.

Fossil sponges from a localized cold-seep limestone in Oligocene rocks of the Olympic Peninsula, Washington

A limited fauna of relatively simple, thin-walled, hexactinellid sponges, including moderately coarse-textured, funnellike Hexactinella(?) conica new species, fine-textured, tubular to branched Hexactinella(?) tubula new species, fragments of delicate Eurete goederti(?) Rigby and Jenkins, 1983, and Farrea(?) species, has been found in the Oligocene Lincoln Creek Formation on Canyon River, in the southcentral part of the Olympic Peninsula, Washington. These sponges dominate a chemosynthetic invertebrate assemblage that included the gastropod Provanna antigua Squires, 1995; the polyplacophoran Leptochiton alveolus (Lovén, 1846), and radiolarians. Most of the sponges are preserved as silica in a localized cherty and botryoidal, calcareous cement-filled limestone formed at bathyal depths by bacterial oxidation of methane at a cold seep. This is the third known report of sponges from ancient chemosynthetic deposits.

Sponge borehole size as a relative measure of bioerosion and paleoproductivity

Bioerosion intensity has been proposed as a measure of paleoproductivity in fossil reefs, but it is difficult to measure directly because fossil corals are often incomplete and because it is difticult to infer the length of time a given coral was exposed to bioeroding organisms. Both nutrient availability and taphonomic factors can affect bioerosion intensity as measured in dead corals. Here, we examine these two effects separately using data from previous studies on bioerosion in modern and fossil corals. Size of individual sponge borings accurately reflects total bioerosion in modern massive and branching corals on the Great Barrier Reef. Total bioerosion in both massive and branching corals decreases outward across the continental shelf, paralleling trends in nutrient availability. Size of individual Cliothosa hancocki borings decreases across the shelf in branching Acropora but not in massive Porites. Fossil sponge borings Entobia convoluta and Uniglobites glomerata in massive corals from Oligocene and Miocene reefs in Puerto Rico are smallest in Oligocene shelf-edge reefs, intermediate in Oligocene patch reefs, and largest in Miocene patch reefs. Both facies-related influence, represented by Oligocene shelf-edge reefs vs. Oligocene patch reefs, and nutrient-related influence, represented by Oligocene vs. Miocene patch reefs, were reflected in the size of sponge boreholes. Size of sponge borings also varies among species of host corals, apparently in relation to skeletal architecture. Borehole size is inversely correlated with skeletal density as measured by the relative proportion of skeleton and pore space in transverse thin section. There is a weak positive correlation between borehole size and corallite diameter. These findings contradict reported positive correlations between total bioerosion and bulk density in modern corals. Borehole size appears accurately to reflect intensity of total internal bioerosion in fossil corals. Facies-controlled taphonomic overprints and influence of skeletal differences between coral species limit the use of sponge borehole size to a rough indicator of paleoproductivity in fossil coral reef environments.

Reconstruction of a regional, 12,-yr silica decline in lakes by means of fossil sponge spicules

Reconstruction of a regional, 12,-yr silica decline in lakes by means of fossil sponge spicules

Reconstruction of a regional, 12,-yr silica decline in lakes by means of fossil sponge spicules

Reconstruction of a regional, 12,-yr silica decline in lakes by means of fossil sponge spicules

Stromatoporoids: a beginner's guide

Stromatoporoids are an important group of fossil sponges that form some of the largest reef complexes in the fossil record and are valuable in palaeoecological and facies analysis. They are frequently large and easily studies in the field and in hand specimen. Using their growth forms it is possible to determine some features of sediment deposition rates and changes in their growth direction during life show episodes of turbulence that affected the sea bed. This article intriduces them, and gives practical help to interpret thier growth forms in quaries and cliffs where you may see them on fieldwork. You will realized just how absorbing these fossil sponges can be.

Organisation de la phase minérale chez Vaceletia crypta ( Vacelet)Démosponge, Sphinctozoaire actuelle. Comparaison avec des formes aragonitiques du Trias de Turquie

The fundamental microstructural and ultrastructuralcaracteristics of a non fibrous carbonate tissue has been revealed by the study of the only living Sphinctozoa: Vaceletia crypta ( Vacelet), Demospongia. These observations yield important data for interpretation of homogeneous carbonate structure in the skeleton of some fossil sponges. Effectively, we notice that two triassic forms, morphologically very different (Sphinctozoa and Inozoa) show remarkable microstructural analogies with Vaceletia crypta. These considerations should not be leaved out to establish an only classification of Sponges, joining both living and fossil forms. Moreover, the elementary skeletal constituants ofthe two forms show dimensions which indicate a growth in size in comparison with the living species. This increase has probably a diagenetic origin (adjunction of aragonite). So it appears that the present aspect of the mineral components cannot result from a reduction in size (micritization), as has been sometimes asserted.

Upper Silurian lithistid sponge reefs on Somerset Island, Arctic Canada

ABSTRACTThe Upper Ludlow Douro Formation contains the first reported Silurian sponge reefs. These relatively small (5–35 m diameter), mound‐shaped structures contain, on average, 35% lithistid demosponges. Reefs are surrounded by irregular haloes of crinoid debris; abundance and diversity of all fossil groups decreases away from the reefs. Each reef is underlain by a lens of crinoid wackestone to grainstone rich in crinoid holdfasts; trepostomate bryozoans, solenoporacean algae and rhynchonellid brachiopods are locally common. The bulk of each reef consists of lime mudstone with abundant lithistid sponges. This is capped by a thin layer of wackestone with abundant tabulate and rugose corals and fewer lithistid sponges, calcareous algae, trepostomate bryozoans and stromatoporoids. This zonation, in which a sponge colonization community was replaced by a coral diversification community, is similar to that reported from some Middle Ordovician, Upper Jurassic and Holocene sponge reefs.The Douro sponge reefs were relatively low structures, with about 3 m maximum topographic relief. They grew on a broad carbonate platform, probably in warm, tranquil, turbid waters of normal or near‐normal marine salinity. Periodic influxes of terrigenous mud adversely affected reef size, and caused biotic changes. Some of the reef lime mud was derived from non‐reef sources, but significant quantities were also produced on the reefs. Reefs underwent synsedimentary lithification, bioerosion and minor storm erosion. Fabrics and compositions of sparry calcite in cavities record three generations of meteoric cementation. Originally siliceous spicules of the lithistid sponges were dissolved and the moulds later filled with sparry calcite. Early dissolution of siliceous spicules is common in reef environments, and may have caused fossil sponges to be under‐represented in ancient reefs.

Stromatoporiods: Growth and Form

This summer in Washington one of the sessions of the Fossil Coral Symposium was devoted to the subject of stromatoporoids and their relatives; this fall a major part of this workshop on fossil sponges is being devoted to the same group. The closeness of these two meetings emphasizes the problematic nature of these fossils and focuses attention on a controversy over their affinity that is over 100 years old. Although these enigmatic fossils have many cnidarian features, I think you will agree that they are “in the right place” in this sponge workshop.

Heteractinida

The Heteractinida are a relatively minor group of calcareous sponges, although Astraeospongium, one of the currently 14 known genera in the order, is one of the most commonly studied fossil sponges in the world. Principle record of the Heteractinida is from North America and Europe, although they have now been reported from Australia, Africa, Asia and South America. Occurrences in the latter areas generally are only isolated spicules or single specimens.