Dictyospongiidae Hall, 1882

Carrera, Marcelo G., Rustán, Juan Jose, Vaccari, N. Emilio & Ezpeleta, Miguel, 2018, A new Mississippian hexactinellid sponge from the western Gondwana: Taxonomic and paleobiogeographic implications, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 63 (1), pp. 63-70 : 65

Family Dictyospongiidae Hall, 1882

Remarks. — The dictyospongid is a complex and varied group of hexactinellid sponges that certainly is in need of a major revision. The existing definitions of the superfamily Dictyospongioidea , family Dictyospongiidae , and the subfamilies are complex and unclear. Many taxa are currently included within groups that do not share very many of the same characteristics. Main definition of the superfamily Dictyospongioidea Hall, 1882 (according to Finks and Rigby 2004) includes “reticulosan” hexactinellids in which one or more layers of vertical and horizontal bundles of spicules developed beneath a dermal layer. However, a differentiated dermal layer is not clearly represented in all the included genera.

The definition of the family Dictiospongiidae referred to a fine autodermal and hypodermal structure (quadrate mesh) and the subdivision into six subfamilies ( Finks and Rigby 2004: 372) are mainly based on the overall morphology of the sponge body: “basically tubular with prism facets”, “well developed prism facets and no protuberances”, “Conicocylidrical with annular expansions an quite large protuberances”.

The subfamily Thysanodictyinae (in which we include the studied material) is one of the few that includes the structure of the wall as an important characteristic in its definition. However, as we pointed earlier, the dictyopongids need a major revision which is beyond the scope of this work.