Siliceous sponges are rare in the Cretaceous-Paleogene record, with only a handful of published accounts from the Southern Hemisphere. Variously preserved siliceous sponges, both Hexactinellida and Demospongiae, have been recovered from the Takatika Grit (Campanian-Danian), Chatham Islands, New Zealand. Hexactinellid sponges are represented by the Euretidae Eotretochone australis n. gen. and sp., Pararete sp., and Euretid gen. and sp. indet., Auloplax? sp. (Dactylocalycidae) and Tretodictyiid gen. and sp. indet., as well as by loose hexactines and fragments of dictyonal skeletons. Demosponges are represented only by loose spicules typical of Astrophorida, and perhaps lithistids. These fossils represent the first account of sponges of this age from the New Zealand region of the southwest Pacific.
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1 September 2009
Siliceous Sponges of the Takatika Grit (Cretaceous-Paleogene), Chatham Islands, South Pacific
Christopher P. Consoli,
Andrzej Pisera,
Jeffrey D. Stilwell
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Chatham Islands
Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg)
Demospongiae
Hexactinellida
New Zealand
Porifera
Takatika Grit