LOWER ORDOVICIAN LITHISTID SPONGES FROM THE EASTERN YANGTZE GORGE AREA, HUBEI, CHINA

A moderately diverse assemblage of anthaspidellid demosponges has been recovered from reef-bearing carbonate platform deposits of Early Ordo vician, Tremadoc to early Arenig age, in Hubei Province. The sponges o ccur, in part, in the Tremadoc Fenxiang Formation and, in part, in the lower Arenig Honghuayuan Formation at several localities near Yichang , Xintan, and Liujiachang. Archaeoscyphia nana Beresi and Rigby, 1993, Archaeoscyphia pulchra (Bassler, 1927), and Archaeoscyphia minganensi s (Billings, 1859) occur with the new genera and species, Jianghania y ichangensis and Velellospongia adnata, and the new species Rhopalocoel ia sanxiaensis and Anthaspidella lamellata. This is the first reported occurrence of Anthaspidella in Ordovician rocks of China. Great numbe rs of these species of fossil sponges have been found in Lower Ordovic ian outcrops, particularly in the eastern Yangtze Gorge area of Hubei Province.