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Journal of Paleontology

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SILICEOUS SPONGES OF THE TAKATIKA GRIT (CRETACEOUS-PALEOGENE), CHATHAM ISLANDS, SOUTH PACIFIC

¹ School of Geosciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia <Jeffrey.Stilwell{at}sci.monash.edu.au>
² Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Twarda 51/55, 00-818 Warszawa, Poland <apis{at}twarda.pan.pl>
³ now at Geoscience Australia, GPO Box 378, Canberra ACT 2601 <chris.consoli{at}ga.gov.au>

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.

Key Words: Porifera • Hexactinellida • Demospongiae • Takatika Grit • Tioriori Group • Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) • Chatham Islands • New Zealand