Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-5nwft Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-02T14:28:43.686Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Gigantospongia, new genus, the largest known Permian sponge, Capitan limestone, Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

J. Keith Rigby  and
Baba Senowbari-Daryan
J. Keith Rigby
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, 258 ESC, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84604-4660, USA
Baba Senowbari-Daryan
Affiliation:
Institute of Paleontology, University of Erlangen, Loewenichstrasse 28, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Several specimens of the large, discoidal, new inozoid genus and species, Gigantospongia discoforma, have been discovered in the Upper Permian, Upper Capitan Limestone in the northern Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico, near Carlsbad Caverns. The holotype is nearly 2.5 meters across, as exposed, and ranges from 8-20 mm thick, with numerous canals transverse and parallel to the principal plane. These canals are approximately 1 mm in diameter and separated by tracts 1-2 mm thick. Thickened dermal and gastral layers, each approximately 1 mm thick, occur at tops and bases of both the holotype and associated paratypes in the “Sponge Window” exposures of Bat Cave Draw, and in specimens from Chinaberry and Hackberry Draws. Inverted Lemonea conica Senowbari-Daryan, 1990, is apparently attached to the base, and appears to have grown inverted in a void formed or capped by the tabular inozoid. Well-preserved specimens of Amblysiphonella also appear inverted, as do examples of Lemonea cylindrica (Girty, 1908), a new species of Lemonea, and Guadalupia explanata (King, 1943), which occur between the holotype and an underlying paratype. All appear coated with Archaeolithoporella crusts. Microstructure of the inozoan skeleton is obscured by diagenesis.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 70 , Issue 3 , May 1996 , pp. 347 - 355
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Babcock, J. A. 1977. Calcareous algae, organic boundstone, and the genesis of the Upper Capitan Limestone (Permian, Guadalupian), Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico and West Texas, p. 3–44. In Hileman, M. E. and Mazzulo, S. J. (eds.), Upper Guadalupian facies, Permian reef complex, Guadalupe Mountain, New Mexico and West Texas. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Permian Basin Section Publication, 77-16.Google Scholar
Bowerbank, J. S. 1864. A monograph of British Spongidae, Volume III. Royal Society of London, 367 p.Google Scholar
Cys, J. M. 1977. Capitan reef—evolution of a concept, p. 201–322. In Hileman, M. E. and Mazzullo, S. J. (eds.), Upper Guadalupian facies, Permian reef complex, Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico and West Texas. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Permian Basin Section, 1977 Field Conference Guidebook Publication, 77-16.Google Scholar
Fagerstrom, J. A., Weidlich, O., Rigby, J. K., and Senowbari-Daryan, B. 1995. Taphonomy and community structure. Proceedings of the VIIth International Symposium of Fossil Cnidaria and Porifera, Madrid, Spain.Google Scholar
Fan, J., Rigby, J. K., and Zhang, W. 1991. “Hydrozoa” from Middle and Upper Permian reef of South China. Journal of Paleontology, 65:45–68.Google Scholar
Finks, R. M. 1960. Late Paleozoic sponge fauna of the Texas region; the silicious sponges. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 120(1):1–160.Google Scholar
Girty, G. H. 1908. The Guadalupian Fauna. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 58:1–651.Google Scholar
Hayes, P. T. 1957. Geology of Carlsbad Caverns East Quadrangle, New Mexico. U.S. Geological Survey Quadrangle Map, GQ 98.Google Scholar
Hayes, P. T. 1964. Geology of the Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 446, 69 p.Google Scholar
Hayes, P. T., and Koogel, R. L. 1958. Geology of Carlsbad Caverns West Quadrangle, New Mexico-Texas. U.S. Geological Survey Quadrangle Map, GQ 112.Google Scholar
King, P. B. 1948. Geology of the Southern Guadalupe Mountains, Texas. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 215, 183 p.Google Scholar
King, R. H. 1943. New Carboniferous and Permian sponges. State Geological Survey of Kansas Bulletin, 47:1–36.Google Scholar
Newell, N. D., Rigby, J. K., Fischer, A. G., Whiteman, A. J., Hickox, J. E. and Bradley, J. S. 1953. The Permian Reef Complex of the Guadalupe Mountains Region, Texas and New Mexico—A Study in Paleoecology. W. H. Freeman and Co., San Francisco, 236 p.Google Scholar
Rigby, J. K., and Millward, A. B. 1988. A look back at the Permian reefs of West Texas and New Mexico. Earth Sciences History, 7:71–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rigby, J. K., and Roberts, H. H. 1976. Grand Cayman Island: Geology, Sediments, and Marine Communities. Brigham Young University Geology Studies Special Publication No. 4, 122 p.Google Scholar
Rigby, J. K., and Senowbari-Daryan, B. 1996. Upper Permian inozoid, demospongid, and hexactinellid sponges from Djebel Tebaga, Tunisia. University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions, New Series number 7, 130 p. 81 pls.Google Scholar
Rigby, J. K., Fan, J., and Zhang, W. 1989. Inozoan calcareous sponges from the Permian reefs in South China. Journal of Paleontology, 63:778–800.Google Scholar
Rigby, J. K., Fagerstrom, J. A., Senowbari-Daryan, B., Weidlich, O., and Liu, H. 1995. Upper Permian Capitan Limestone of the Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico and Texas, Its origin and community structures. Proceedings of the VIIth International Symposium on Fossil Cnidaria and Porifera, Madrid, Spain.Google Scholar
Senowbari-Daryan, B. 1990. Die systematische Stellung der thalamiden Schwämme und ihre Bedeutung in der Erdgeschichte. Münchener Geowissenschaftliche Abhandlungen, A 21:1–326.Google Scholar
Senowbari-Daryan, B., Rigby, J. K., and Liu, H. 1995. Taxonomy, diversity, and the roles of sponges in the Capitan reef, Texas and New Mexico, USA. Proceedings of the VIIth International Symposium of Fossil Cnidaria and Porifera, Madrid, Spain.Google Scholar
Termier, H., and Termier, G. 1955. Contribution à l'etude des Spongiaires permiens du Djebel Tebaga (Extreme Sud Tunisien). Bulletin de la Société Geologique de France, Series 6, 6:771–774.Google Scholar
Termier, H., and Termier, G. 1974. Spongiaires permiens du Djebel Tebaga (sud Tunisien). Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences, Paris, 279 (D):247–249.Google Scholar
Termier, H., and Vachard, D. 1977. (Cited as Termier and Termier, 1977) Monographie paleontologique des affleurements Permiens du Djebel Tebaga (Sud Tunisien). Palaeontographica, Abteilung A, 156:1–109.Google Scholar
Toomey, D. F., and Babcock, J. A. 1983. Precambrian and Paleozoic algal carbonates, West Texas and New Mexico. Colorado School of Mines Professional Contribution, 11, 345 p.Google Scholar
Tyrrell, W. W. Jr. 1969. Criteria useful in interpreting environments of unlike but time-equivalent carbonate units (Tansill-Capitan-Lamar), Capitan reef complex, West Texas and New Mexico, p. 80–97. In Friedman, G. M. (ed.), Depositional Environments in Carbonate Rocks. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Special Publication 14.Google Scholar
Weidlich, O., Fagerstrom, J. A., Rigby, J. K., and Senowbari-Daryan, B. 1995. Capitan Reef litho-and biofacies: implications for community structure, colonization strategy, and carbonate net production. Proceedings of the VIIth International Symposium of Fossil Cnidaria and Porifera, Madrid, Spain.Google Scholar
Wood, R., Dickson, J. A. D., and Kirkland-George, B. 1994. Turning the Capitan Reef upside down: a new appraisal of the ecology of the Permian Capitan Reef, Guadalupe Mountains, Texas and New Mexico. Palaios, 9:422–427.Google Scholar
Wu, Y. S. 1991. Organisms and communities of Permian reef of Xiangbo, China. International Academic Publishers, Beijing, 192 p.Google Scholar
Yurewicz, D. A. 1977. The origin of the massive facies of the lower and middle Capitan Limestone (Permian), Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico and West Texas, p. 45–92. In Hileman, M. E. and Mazzullo, S. J. (eds.), Upper Guadalupian facies, Permian reef complex, Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico and West Texas. Society of Economic Paleontogists and Mineralogists, Permian Basin Section, 1977 Field Conference Guidebook Publication 77-16.Google Scholar