A PRELIMINARY STUDY OF SPONGE FOSSILS FROM THE CAMBRIAN“TSINGHSUTUNG FORMATION”OF GUIZHOU,CHINA
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Abstract:
The “Tsinghsutung Formation” (Series 2，Cambrian)is well exposed in Balang Village，Jianhe County， Guizhou Province，representing the deposit formed in the transition slope belt．Sixgenera and species of sponges were collected from the Jianhe biota located in the upper part of the“Tsinghsutung Formation”．They are Choia sp．，Choiaella sp．，Leptomitus teretiusculus Chen，Hou and Lu，1989，Leptomitella sp．，？Proto-spongia sp．and Saetaspongia densa Mehl and Reitner in Steiner et al．，1993．They account for 6．98% of the total generic diversity of the biota and most of them are common species that lived during the Cambrian series 2．Four genera and 4 species are systematically described in this study．Among the sponge fossils we have collected，the sponge tiering is restricted to 0-15cm，most of which around 0-5cm，and Choiaellasp．is usually between 5-15cm．Furthermore，it shows that the sizes of sponge fossils from the“Tsinghsutung Formation” are smaller than that from the Cambrian Hetang Formation(Anhui Province)and the Chengjiang biota (Yunnan Province)．It is indicated that the difference between them may have resulted from the specific local environments and the ecological complexity of the biotas．
