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Middle Cambrian Protospongiid Sponges and Chancelloriids from the Precordillera of Mendoza Province, Western

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Middle Cambrian Protospongiid Sponges and Chancelloriids from the Precordillera of Mendoza Province, Western See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275386221 Middle Cambrian protospongiid sponges and chancelloriids from the Precordillera of Mendoza Province, western... Article in Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen · June 2013 DOI: 10.1127/0077-7749/2013/0329 CITATIONS READS 3 33 2 authors, including: Matilde Sylvia Beresi National Scientific and Technical Research Council 35 PUBLICATIONS 126 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Cambrian and Ordovician sponges and chancelloriids View project All content following this page was uploaded by Matilde Sylvia Beresi on 17 August 2017. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. N. Jb. Geol. Paläont. Abh. 268/3, 259–274 Article Stuttgart, June 2013 Middle Cambrian protospongiid sponges and chancelloriids from the Precordillera of Mendoza Province, western Argentina Matilde S. Beresi and J. Keith Rigby † With 8 figures Beresi, M.s. & rigBy, J.K. (2013): Middle Cambrian protospongiid sponges and chancelloriids from the Precordillera of Mendoza Province, western Argentina. – N. Jb. Geol. Paläont. Abh., 268: 259– 274; Stuttgart. Abstract: A Middle Cambrian faunule from different sections of the San Isidro region, Precordillera of Mendoza Province, western Argentina, include previously unrecorded and new material. Speci- mens in the collections are simple reticulosan hexactinellids determined as Diagoniella cf. cyathi- formis, Diagoniella sp., (?) Diagoniella sp., indeterminate protospongioid spicule assemblages and several root tuft types. In addition a possible scleritome of Chancelloria cruceana Rusconi, 1954 is re-described and illustrated, and sclerites assigned to Archiasterella are here described for the first time. Key words: Middle Cambrian, protospongioid sponges, chancelloriids, San Isidro region, Mendoza Province, Precordillera Argentina. 1. Introduction of Chancelloria have been described and figured from the Middle-Upper Cambrian carbonate platform and The Porifera (sponges) are sessile filter-feeding organ- slope facies of the Argentine Precordillera (Beresi isms with an extremely effective and complex network & rigBy 1994; Beresi & Banchig 1997). A synthe- of water-conducting channels and a defined bauplan. sis of Cambrian sponge occurrences in the Argentine They are the oldest living metazoans. Their fossil re- Precordillera was given by Beresi (2003). Protospongia cord extends back to the Late Neoproterozoic although asperoense (rusconi, 1952) and Chancelloria crucea- most of these reports are ambiguous and have been na (rusconi, 1954) were the first Cambrian species de- questioned (Pisera 2006). The beginning of sponge scribed from the San Isidro region, in the Precordillera diversification during the Cambrian is relatively well of Mendoza Province. Disarticulated protospongiid known thanks to their very good preservation, from spicules and chancelloriid sclerites were subsequent- the Chengjiang fauna in China and the Burgess Shale ly reported from this area by Pernas (1964), Devizia in Canada, where even sponges with unfused spicules (1973), BorDonaro & Martos (1985), hereDia et al. occur. (1987), and Beresi & hereDia (1995). Siliceous sponge Spiculate sponges assigned to Protospongia, spicules from diverse Cambrian and Ordovician sec- Diagoniella and Kiwetinokia and the first Cambrian tions of the Precordillera were described by Mehl & anthaspidellid skeletal fragments, as well as sclerites lehnert (1997). ©2013 E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart, Germany www.schweizerbart.de DOI: 10.1127/0077-7749/2013/0329 0077-7749/2013/0329 $ 4.00 eschweizerbart_xxx 260 Matilde S. Beresi and J. Keith Rigby Fig. 1. Location map of the San Isidro area, Precordillera of Mendoza Province, western Argentina, showing the fossilifer- ous levels (modified from tortello & BorDonaro 1997). In the collection samples studied here, there are a san grade which have unilaminar skeletal net of hexac- few preserved semi-articulated fragile protospongiid tine derivatives spicules (stauractines, pentactines) in a sponges. These sponges represent the simple reticulo- regular ordered quadruling. The majority of the sam- eschweizerbart_xxx Middle Cambrian protospongiid sponges and chancelloriids 261 Fig 2. Schematic stratigraphic column of the Estancia San Isidro Formation (Middle Ordovician), San Isidro area, Mendoza Precordillera and sponge spicules and chancelloriid sclerites distribution. ples yield a mass of disarticulated spicules that make poriferan affinity (Bengtson & hou 2001). This view the interpretation of the relationships of these early was accepted also by some workers on sponges, e.g., fossils difficult. rigBy (1986), Mehl (1996). For detailed taxonomic Sclerites of chancelloriids are in the collections. discussion see Bengtson et al. (1990). On the contrary, Chancelloriids were sessile, benthic, radially sym- sPerling et al. (2007: 355) considered that these “Prob- metrical organisms. They range from the earliest lematica” are organized around a poriferan body plan, Cambrian to the early Late Cambrian, flourishing in namely a “benthic, sessile micro-suspension feeding shallow marine environments, often as components of organism” and they cannot be removed from the por- archaeocyathan mounds (Janussen et al. 2002). Wal- iferan grade based simply on spicule characteristics.” cott (1920) originally described chancelloriids as por- The principal coeloscleritophorans include chancel- iferans. However, others have suggested possible af- loriids, halkieriids, sachitids, and siphogonuchitids. finities with the extinct Coeloscleritophora (Bengtson The aim of this paper is to document the Middle & Missarzhevsky 1981) and rejected the presumed Cambrian protospongiid sponges, detached spicule as- eschweizerbart_xxx 262 Matilde S. Beresi and J. Keith Rigby semblages, sclerites of chancelloriids, and a possible fied as a chancelloriid (MCNAM-PI. 15671). However, the scleritome of Chancelloria cruceana discovered dur- first author recently began a detailed revision of a part of ing a review of invertebrate collections stored in the the Cambrian specimens not included in the type material. From a total of 150 revised samples there are 100 sam- “Museo de Ciencias Naturales y Antropológicas Juan ples of marlstones, calcipelites and calcarenites bearing Cornelio Moyano” (Mendoza), as part of the first au- spicules and chancelloriid sclerites together with trilobites, thor’s project searching for new fossil material from Hyolithes, and phosphatic brachiopods. The sponges repre- this interesting and promising Precordilleran area. sent 40 % of the studied samples including protospongiids and unidentified hexactinellids (28 %), root tufts (7%) and chancelloriids (5%). Approximately 40 samples bearing the 2. Geological setting best preserved spicules assemblages and chancelloriid scle- rites are described in this paper. The classic locality of San Isidro area is located at Sponge spicules and chancelloriids were examined by 32°51' S, 69°00' W, in the eastern side of the Precor- binocular microscope (Olympus SZ61); photographs were dillera of Mendoza Province, western Argentina (Fig. taken with this microscope. 1), as part of a vast carbonate platform. In this region, Chancelloriid terminology used here follows sDzuy (1969), Beresi & rigBy (1994) and ranDell et al. (2005), the Darriwilian talus olistostromic Estancia San Isidro with a few modifications. A basic chancelloriid sclerite Formation (hereDia & Beresi 2006) contains diverse possesses a central ray perpendicular to the body wall, and Cambrian-Ordovician allochthonous blocks (olisto- lateral rays lying parallel to the body surface surround the liths) (Fig. 2). The “San Isidro olistoliths” record trilo- central ray. Rays enter the central disc proximally and proj- bites of lower Middle Cambrian age (Glossopleura and ect distally. Individual sclerites are described by number of lateral rays + number of central rays (e.g., a 5+1: sclerite has Oryctocephalus zones sensu BorDonaro et al. (1993), five lateral rays and one central ray. Lateral rays are classi- together with Hyolithes sp., phosphatic brachiopods, fied by their orientation relative to the main body axis. Since Girvanella, echinoderm ossicles (?), sponge spicules the lateral ray oriented towards the apex is termed the verti- and chancelloriid sclerites from the shallow carbonate cal ray, those perpendicular to it are called the horizontal platform. The “San Martín olistoliths” (upper Middle rays. Repository: All sponges and chancelloriids treated here Cambrian) are composed of dark fine-grained mud- are deposited in the Invertebrate collection of the Juan Cor- stones and marls, which yielded late Middle Cambrian nelio Moyano Museum, at Mendoza, Argentina, under the agnostids (BorDonaro et al. 1993) and assemblages of catalogue numbers MCNAM- PI 13281 to 23059. protospongioid spicules which point to a deep-water setting (peri-platform environment). Sponges and 5. Systematic Palaeontology chancelloriids from the carbonate samples of the San Isidro and San Martín olistoliths (Middle Cambrian) Class Hexactinellida schMiDt, 1870 are described in this paper, while those fossiliferous Subclass Amphidiscophora schulze, 1887 samples from the Upper Cambrian La Cruz olistoliths Order Reticulosa reiD, 1958 are not included in this study. Superfamily Protospongioidea Finks, 1960 Family Protospongiidae hinDe, 1887
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