| Abstract/Notes | Three more thalamid sponge species are described from Upper Permian reefs of Djebel Tebaga, Tunisia. Intrasporeocoelia hubeiensis Fan and Zhang, 1985, Rhabdactinia depressa Rigby, Fan, and Zhang, 1989, and Glomocystospongia gracilis Rigby, Fan, and Zhang, 1989, are now known from a few Tunisian specimens.Monaxon spicules are common within the rigid, diagenetically altered, aragonitic skeleton of Glomocystospongia gracilis Rigby, Fan, and Zhang, 1989. Spicules are common as vertical elements in walls of tubes between the vertical series of cyst-like chambers and less common in the chamber walls where they are parallel to the tube walls but project out into the chambers.Intrasporeocoelia has been reported from Permian rocks of the Sosio Valley in Sicily, and therefore from the Western Tethys. However, the species of Rhabdactinia and Glomocystospongia reported here have been known, until now, only from the Permian of China; thus, the Djebel Tebaga locality in southern Tunisia represents the first known occurrence of these latter sponges in the Western Tethyan realm.Two additional specimens of Tristratocoelia rhythmica Senowbari-Daryan and Rigby, 1988, have also been found. They allow further definition of characteristics of this sponge, which was initially described from a single specimen from Djebel Tebaga. |
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