A NEW HEXACTINELLID SPONGE FROM THE EOCENE OF KUTCH, INDIA

A single specimen of the new dictyonine hexactinellid species Verrucoc oelia biswasi was collected from the Middle Eocene Fulra Limestone fro m Lakhpat Fort, Kutch, western India. The euretoid species is broadly bowl-shaped, 7-8 cm wide and 56 cm high, with walls of branched to wea kly anastomosed tubes that extend upward and outward from a simple, un fluted, walled spongocoel. Skeletal strands diverge upward and outward from near the gastral surface of each tube. The sponge occurs in silt y tan marl with abundant alveolinids and less common other large foram inifera, bivalves, and gastropods in sediments thought to have accumul ated in a quiet, sheltered environment, possibly a lagoon.