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A North American freshwater sponge (Eospongilla morrisonensis new genus and species) from the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic), Colorado

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Stan P. Dunagan
Stan P. Dunagan*
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville 37996-1410
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Abstract

Eospongilla morrisonensis n. gen. and sp., the oldest-described freshwater sponge (Demospongea: Spongillidae), is found in the Upper Jurassic (?Oxfordian/Kimmeridgian to Tithonian) Morrison Formation, east-central Colorado, U.S.A. Eospongilla morrisonensis occurs within the well-developed lacustrine carbonate succession of the Morrison Formation, and is represented by two micritic body fossils with calcite-replaced megascleres that range in length from 180 to 300 μm and in diameter from 20 to 35 μm. Megascleres are simple oxeas and strongyles and lack apparent ornamentation, possibly due to the diagenetic replacement. The oxeas are straight but the strongyles display a slight curvature. Microscleres are absent; gemmoscleres were not observed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 73 , Issue 3 , May 1999 , pp. 389 - 393
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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