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Oldest known fossil of Rossellids (Hexactinellida, Porifera) from the Ordovician–Silurian transition of Anhui, South China

PalZ volume 93, pages 559–566 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

Rossellids are geographically widespread in the modern deep-water sponge community. They are referred to Lyssacinosida, characterized by hypodermal pentactines and choanosomal megascleres of hexactines and diactines or the latter only. The fossil records of rossellids are usually found in the Cenozoic, with the earliest existence known from the Upper Cretaceous, later than the molecular phylogenetic result. A new lyssacinosan hexactinellid, Palaeorossella sinensis gen. et sp. nov., is described from the uppermost Ordovician of Anhui, South China. The sponge shows a saccular, globular or oval form with relatively thick wall. The skeleton is lyssacine type mainly composed of hexactines and stauractines, with the outer margin reinforced by hypodermal pentactines, which usually protrude the periphery as prostalia lateralia. The new species is well-preserved with typical hypodermal and prostalia pentactines as well as an articulated skeleton, giving some tentative insights into the affinity between the new species and other taxa in Rossellidae. It represents the oldest record of rossellids, providing new information for understanding the phylogeny of rossellids and on the evolution of modern Hexactinellida.

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Fig. 1

The Hirnantian paleogeographic map of South China, from Chen et al. (2005), Zhan and Jin (2007), modified

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to reviewers Dr. Joseph P. Botting (Department of Natural Sciences, Amgueddfa Cymru–National Museum Wales, UK) and Dr. Mike Reich (SNSB–Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie München, Germany) and for their perceptive critiques, which have improved the paper. We further thank Dr. Joseph P. Botting and Professor Yuandong Zhang (Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, China) for valuable discussions concerning the Anji sponge fauna. Thanks also go to Dinghua Yang for the reconstruction. This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, nos. 41702005, 41521061) and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant XDB26000000). This paper is also a contribution to the IGCP 653 project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China

    Lixia Li & Renbin Zhan

  2. Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China

    Lixia Li & Renbin Zhan

  3. Research Institute and Nature Museum Senckenberg, 60325, Frankfurt, Germany

    Dorte Janussen

  4. Department of Geobiology, Centre for Geosciences, Faculty of Geosciences and Geography, Georg-August-University of Göttingen, 37077, Göttingen, Germany

    Joachim Reitner

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  1. Lixia Li
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Correspondence to Lixia Li.

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Li, L., Janussen, D., Zhan, R. et al. Oldest known fossil of Rossellids (Hexactinellida, Porifera) from the Ordovician–Silurian transition of Anhui, South China. PalZ 93, 559–566 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-019-00452-3

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