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The first reported middle Eocene sponge from India; a Raphidonema from the Fulra Limestone Formation, Kutch, India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

J. Keith Rigby
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602
Manmohan Mohanti
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Utkal University, Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar-751004 (Orissa), India

Abstract

A single specimen of the new sponge, Raphidonema indica n. sp., is the first Eocene sponge to be reported from India. It was collected from the Fulra Limestone Formation at Lakhpat, Kutch, India. The undulating, cup-like sponge is most similar to R. farringdonense (Sharpe, 1854), but the Indian species has a clustered, mounded excurrent system and numerous tangential canals on the upper, exhalant surface. Skeletal tracts in Raphidonema indica are 0.4–0.5 mm in diameter, in walls that are generally 12–14 mm, but range up to 18 mm thick.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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