Favositid tabulates: Honeycomb corals?

[fernwood]

Location:  SE Portage County, Central Wisconsin, USA.

Geology:  South Western advance of Green Bay Glacial Lobe.  Former Glacial Lake Oshkosh.  Niagara Escarpment Debris.  My land.  Ordovician onward. 

 

Trying to learn, but am confused.  I tentatively identified the below specimen as a Honeycomb coral, based on info from the below and input from local “experts”.  None are Paleontologists, but one is a Natural History Museum Director. 

 

Begin quote:

Favositid tabulates: Honeycomb corals

The favositid corals are quite common. They usually formed large colonies. The corallite is prismatic in shape, resembling honeycombs. Favositids have mural pores, tiny holes in the wall of the skeleton, which connect different corallites. These pores are distributed in characteristic patterns and numbers, which are useful for distinguishing the various types of favositids. Favositids lived from the Ordovician to the Permian, at which time they became extinct. They are most abundant in middle Silurian to lower Devonian rock. Favosites is the most common fossil coral in Wisconsin.

https://wgnhs.uwex.edu/wisconsin-geology/fossils-of-wisconsin/coral-gallery/corals/  Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, UW Extension

 

The confusing part is that some surfaces of this specimen show no pattern or regular form.  Just like most of my finds.  Are there any clues to indicate a rock of this structure may be a coral?  Other than cutting it open?  I have about 50 like this, but only two others show the typical pattern.  The rest just have the “circles” on all sides.  All are basically the same composition of material, but colors vary.  All have inclusions of crystals.  My vision is limited, so I only know what I have found after I wash it and look under a lighted magnifier with a loop.  Photographing helps a lot as well.  I just go on shape and colors when picking up.  Then use a small hand held magnifying glass to examine.  Sometimes wash off with a little water first. 

 

My son in law, who has (almost) a geology minor from local University, is amazed at what the glaciers “dumped” on my land.  Note that a large part of the classes were related to local fossils, due to the abundance of them. 

 

Please let me know if my ID is correct, and any pointers for identifying specimens which do not show the structure, only the “circles” or “cavities”. 

 

Thank you. 

 

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[Pachy]

Maybe this will help you.

You can observe the internal and external structure of that type of coral.

Including thin sections of specimens in this link.

http://fossiilid.info/11522

[doushantuo]

F=Favosites

 

 

As e.g. Neumann has pointed out ,the ontogeny("growth") of paleozoic corals can be complicated.Generally speaking,the growth of colonial clonal

animals is complicated: partial necrosis of tissues followed by regeneration(caused by e.g. predation,parasitism,sediment pulses),interspecific or even intercorallite

competition for space,reproductive patterns(types of budding),are several influences on the final shape of the colony.

Colony could even be uprooted and then regrow

Diagenesis may hugely complicate matters,obscuring or amplifying structures

Furthermore,a lot of clonal organisms in Paleozoic reef environments intergrew:porifera(sponges),algae,corals

lowermost of the four pix:

favositid pathologies:

left:colony regenerative increase through peripheral budding

right:growth interruption & resumption of growth

[Pachy]

7 hours ago, doushantuo said:

F=Favosites

 

 

As e.g. Neumann has pointed out ,the ontogeny("growth") of paleozoic corals can be complicated.Generally speaking,the growth of colonial clonal

animals is complicated: partial necrosis of tissues followed by regeneration(caused by e.g. predation,parasitism,sediment pulses),interspecific or even intercorallite

competition for space,reproductive patterns(types of budding),are several influences on the final shape of the colony.

Colony could even be uprooted and then regrow

Diagenesis may hugely complicate matters,obscuring or amplifying structures

Furthermore,a lot of clonal organisms in Paleozoic reef environments intergrew:porifera(sponges),algae,corals

lowermost of the four pix:

favositid pathologies:

left:colony regenerative increase through peripheral budding

right:growth interruption & resumption of growth

All these types of processes are absolutely normal in any type of coral.
Corals, in general, depend a lot on the conditions of their environment.
All corals, both Primary and Scleractinia, have particular characteristics depending on the environmental conditions.
Some people treat these processes as something abnormal or even aberrant when in reality it is something completely normal and habitual.