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Phragmolites fimbriata Gastropod SITE LOCATION: Decorah, Iowa, USA TIME PERIOD: Ordovician Period (445-485 Million Years ago) Data: Phragmolites is an extinct genus of molluscs in the family Bucaniidae, paleozoic molluscs of uncertain position possibly being either Gastropods or Monoplacophorans in the superfamily Bellerophontoidea. The family lived from the Lower Ordovician to the Devonian and have shells in which the apertural margins tend to flare. Most genera have a slit and selenizone, others some modification of this feature. Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Mollusca Class: Gastropoda Order: †Bellerophontida Family: †Bucaniidae Genus: †Phragmolites Species: †fimbriata

Phragmolites fimbriata Gastropod SITE LOCATION: Decorah, Iowa, USA TIME PERIOD: Ordovician Period (445-485 Million Years ago) Data: Phragmolites is an extinct genus of molluscs in the family Bucaniidae, paleozoic molluscs of uncertain position possibly being either Gastropods or Monoplacophorans in the superfamily Bellerophontoidea. The family lived from the Lower Ordovician to the Devonian and have shells in which the apertural margins tend to flare. Most genera have a slit and selenizone, others some modification of this feature. Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Mollusca Class: Gastropoda Order: †Bellerophontida Family: †Bucaniidae Genus: †Phragmolites Species: †fimbriata

Receptaculites SITE LOCATION: Decorah, Iowa, USA TIME PERIOD: Ordovician Period (445-485 Million Years ago) Data: Receptaculites is the name-bearing genus for an extinct group of conspicuous benthic marine genera, the Receptaculitidae, that lived from the Early Ordovician through the Permian period, peaking in the Middle Ordovician. The group's phylogenetic origin has long been obscure, but the current understanding is that the Receptaculitidae were calcareous algae, probably of the Order Dasycladales. Receptaculitids lived in warm, shallow seas and have been described from all continents except Antarctica. In some areas they were important reef-formers, and they also occur as isolated specimens. Receptaculites and its relatives have a double-spiral, radiating pattern of rhombus-shaped plates supported by spindle-like objects called meroms. Fossils can usually be identified by the intersecting patterns of clockwise and counterclockwise rows of plates or stalk spaces, superficially similar to the arrangement of disk florets on a sunflower -- hence the common name "sunflower coral" Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Chlorophyta Class: Chlorophyceae Order: Dasycladales Family: †Receptaculitidae Genus: †Receptaculites

Receptaculites SITE LOCATION: Decorah, Iowa, USA TIME PERIOD: Ordovician Period (445-485 Million Years ago) Data: Receptaculites is the name-bearing genus for an extinct group of conspicuous benthic marine genera, the Receptaculitidae, that lived from the Early Ordovician through the Permian period, peaking in the Middle Ordovician. The group's phylogenetic origin has long been obscure, but the current understanding is that the Receptaculitidae were calcareous algae, probably of the Order Dasycladales. Receptaculitids lived in warm, shallow seas and have been described from all continents except Antarctica. In some areas they were important reef-formers, and they also occur as isolated specimens. Receptaculites and its relatives have a double-spiral, radiating pattern of rhombus-shaped plates supported by spindle-like objects called meroms. Fossils can usually be identified by the intersecting patterns of clockwise and counterclockwise rows of plates or stalk spaces, superficially similar to the arrangement of disk florets on a sunflower -- hence the common name "sunflower coral" Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Chlorophyta Class: Chlorophyceae Order: Dasycladales Family: †Receptaculitidae Genus: †Receptaculites