Very rare Early Cretaceous sponges from Sardinia
Very rare Early Cretaceous sponges from Sardinia
We describe very rare Early Cretaceous (Valanginian) siliceous sponges from Sardinia, Italy. The assemblage that consisted of skeletal elements (spicules) of “soft” demosponges, lithistids, and hexactinellids, links modern sponge faunas with ancient (e.g., Triassic) assemblages. The presence of spicules that belong to shallow-water sponges as well as to forms that today inhabit wide depth ranges, suggests that this Early Cretaceous assemblage lived at depths around 200 m.
PUBLICATION: Łukowiak, M., Dieni, I., Dumitrica, P., Massari, F., 2022. Late Valanginian sponge spicules from north-eastern Sardinia (Italy). Cretaceous Research. doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105205