Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'auliporida'.
-
I have some exciting news, thanks to the help of @TqB, who suggested that this tabulate coral I found in southwest Michigan glacial drift a few days ago is much more interesting and unusual than I could have imagined! After thinking about and dismissing a number of favositid possibilities, we realized that this is a cerioid syringoporid. Tarquin suggested that, due to the appearance of domed and/or infundibuliform tabulae inside the transverse and longitudinal sections, along with a few apparent mural pores and a possible syrinx (mural pore tunnel) structure, this might be a roemeriid. This is exciting because, besides a documentation from the Devonian Canadian Arctic on Fossilworks, this family has not been found before on the American continent, certainly not in the U.S. I emailed photos to the tabulate coral specialist Dr. Mikolaj Zapalski, who confirmed Tarquin's diagnosis! Here's his reply this morning: I think that your diagnosis is correct - it is a roemeriid. . . . as far as I can tell, it resembles Roemeripora - but the corallites are much larger than any Roemeripora I have seen. On the other hand I have experience only with some Polish and Russian taxa, so these species may be different. An isolated specimen may not be very helpful, but if further specimens are found, this could be potentially interesting for research. Mikołaj K. Zapalski Ph. D., D. Sc., FLS University of Warsaw, Faculty of Geology So, it looks as though this could be the first known discovery of a roemeriid, possibly a new species of Roemeripora, from the U.S.! Here are photos! I'm sending the specimen to Tarquin in hopes that he can prep it a little better or notice more details that I've missed. Best! Lisa An annotation of the previous photo, showing possible mural pore and syrinx structure:
- 15 replies
-
- 11
-
- auliporida
- michigan
- (and 6 more)