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Exceptional preservation of two new early rossellid sponges: the dominant species in the Hirnantian (Late Ordovician) Anji Biota of China

Joseph P. Botting, Dorte Janussen, Yuandong Zhang and View ORCID ProfileLucy A. Muir
Journal of the Geological Society, 177, 1025-1038, 12 June 2020, https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2020-002
Joseph P. Botting
1Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, , China
2Department of Natural Sciences, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, Cathays Park, CF10 3NP, UK
Roles: [Conceptualization (Lead)], [Investigation (Lead)], [Project administration (Supporting)], [Writing - Original Draft (Equal)], [Writing - Review & Editing (Lead)]
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
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Dorte Janussen
3Department of Marine Zoology, Senckenberg Research Institute and Nature Museum, Senckenberganlage 25, , Germany
Roles: [Investigation (Supporting)], [Writing - Original Draft (Lead)]
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Search for this author on this site
Yuandong Zhang
4State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Palaeoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, , China
5University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, , China
Roles: [Conceptualization (Equal)], [Investigation (Supporting)], [Project administration (Lead)], [Writing - Review & Editing (Supporting)]
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
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  • For correspondence: ydzhang@nigpas.ac.cn
Lucy A. Muir
2Department of Natural Sciences, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, Cathays Park, CF10 3NP, UK
Roles: [Investigation (Supporting)], [Writing - Review & Editing (Supporting)]
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
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  • ORCID record for Lucy A. Muir
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Abstract

The Anji Biota of Zhejiang Province, South China, is an exceptionally preserved, sponge-dominated fauna from the latest Ordovician interval, representing a deep-water environment and containing more than 100 sponge species. Herein a complex of two common species that together dominate the deepest-water sponge assemblages within the sequence are described: Shouzhispongia coronata gen. et sp. nov. and Shouzhispongia prodigia gen. et sp. nov. The complex taphonomic pathway for sponge preservation is critical to interpretation of the fossils: prostalial hypodermal pentactins (a unique character of the hexactinellid family Rossellidae) were originally present and are locally visible, but many have been lost taphonomically because spicules are primarily preserved as moulds within soft tissues. The choanosomal skeleton is composed dominantly of very small hexactins and other triaxon spicules rather than diactins, suggesting an early branching position within the family stem group. Despite their abundance in the Anji Biota, and superficial similarity to certain extant rossellid genera such as Bathydorus, no closely similar sponges have yet been described. This highlights the extremely incomplete fossil record of truly deep-water ecosystems. Preservational alignment patterns of the sponges on bedding planes support previous ideas of nepheloid-layer collapse as the primary burial mechanism.

  • © 2020 The Author(s). Published by The Geological Society of London. All rights reserved
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Journal of the Geological Society: 177 (5)
Journal of the Geological Society
Volume 177, Issue 5
September 2020
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Exceptional preservation of two new early rossellid sponges: the dominant species in the Hirnantian (Late Ordovician) Anji Biota of China

Joseph P. Botting, Dorte Janussen, Yuandong Zhang and Lucy A. Muir
Journal of the Geological Society, 177, 1025-1038, 12 June 2020, https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2020-002
Joseph P. Botting
1Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, , China
2Department of Natural Sciences, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, Cathays Park, CF10 3NP, UK
Roles: [Conceptualization (Lead)], [Investigation (Lead)], [Project administration (Supporting)], [Writing - Original Draft (Equal)], [Writing - Review & Editing (Lead)]
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Dorte Janussen
3Department of Marine Zoology, Senckenberg Research Institute and Nature Museum, Senckenberganlage 25, , Germany
Roles: [Investigation (Supporting)], [Writing - Original Draft (Lead)]
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Yuandong Zhang
4State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Palaeoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, , China
5University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, , China
Roles: [Conceptualization (Equal)], [Investigation (Supporting)], [Project administration (Lead)], [Writing - Review & Editing (Supporting)]
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: ydzhang@nigpas.ac.cn
Lucy A. Muir
2Department of Natural Sciences, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, Cathays Park, CF10 3NP, UK
Roles: [Investigation (Supporting)], [Writing - Review & Editing (Supporting)]
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Lucy A. Muir

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Exceptional preservation of two new early rossellid sponges: the dominant species in the Hirnantian (Late Ordovician) Anji Biota of China

Joseph P. Botting, Dorte Janussen, Yuandong Zhang and Lucy A. Muir
Journal of the Geological Society, 177, 1025-1038, 12 June 2020, https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2020-002
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