中国科学院南京地质古生物研究所机构知识库

Modern hexactinellid sponges are diverse, but almost exclusively deep-marine organisms with a very intermittent fossil record. Aside from the fused skeletons of hexactinosan lineages (which are also exceptionally rare in Palaeozoic sediments), identifying other families is challenging due to the microscopic nature of many diagnostic characters, and the need for exceptional preservation in a deep-water palaeoenvironment. Among the more distinctive living families is the Hyalonematidae, which have several preservable diagnostic features. A new sponge (Nectocollare zakdouli n. gen. n. sp.) from the Middle Ordovician Castle Bank fauna of Wales, UK, shows several of these characters, including pinular pentactine dermalia, unbundled choanosomal diactins, and a reticulate marginal rim at the apex. No root tuft is preserved, but these are often detached from fossil sponges. Although there remains some uncertainty over the assignment to Hyalonematidae, this sponge represents the only probable example from the Palaeozoic. Even in the absence of diagnostic microscleres, it likely represents a derived, crown-group hexactinellid, and further confirms the diversification of the class during the earliest Palaeozoic. (c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. and Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, CAS. All rights reserved.