Quer Posted May 3, 2018 Share Posted May 3, 2018 Hi everyone. Here are some specimens from an Upper Campanian - Lower Maastrichtian reef in the Catalan Pyrenees, which species’ diversity amazes me. In fact, they are collected in a 30 meter-radius point. I’ve only been able to approximate their genus (thanks to @Pachy, mostly) . So, I’ll strongly appreciate any help. Well, let’s start with the tiniest ones: Heliopora sp. (=Polytremacis), an Octocorallian: Columactinastrea sp.: Synastrea ? (Only my guess) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raggedy Man Posted May 3, 2018 Share Posted May 3, 2018 Beautiful corals! Can't help with an I.D., but they're wonderful to look at. Nice finds and congrats! ...I'm back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey P Posted May 3, 2018 Share Posted May 3, 2018 I'm not familiar with Cretaceous corals, but those are gorgeous. Congratulations on some great finds and thanks for sharing them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted May 3, 2018 Share Posted May 3, 2018 Those are lovely specimens! Nice photos too. Not sure Pachy will be back, sadly. Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quer Posted May 8, 2018 Author Share Posted May 8, 2018 On 3/5/2018 at 7:49 PM, Tidgy's Dad said: Not sure Pachy will be back, sadly. I am sorry to know that, too. In fact, this one was identified by him, Pachygyra sp., a meandroid or "brain" coral: An enlarged view: Other medium-size cretaceous corals: (not Id, only my guesses) Montastrea sp. ? And a "branched" coral: Pleurocora sp. ? (=Latohelia) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted May 8, 2018 Share Posted May 8, 2018 1 hour ago, Quer said: I am sorry to know that, too. In fact, this one was identified by him, Pachygyra sp., a meandroid or "brain" coral: An enlarged view: Other medium-size cretaceous corals: (not Id, only my guesses) Montastrea sp. ? And a "branched" coral: Pleurocora sp. ? (=Latohelia) Nice corals. Yes Pachy took his username from the first one, I suppose. I think your ids are at least pretty close, but I'm not an expert by far. Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted May 8, 2018 Share Posted May 8, 2018 Your corals are remarkable!! Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaimin013 Posted May 8, 2018 Share Posted May 8, 2018 Amazing specimens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quer Posted May 8, 2018 Author Share Posted May 8, 2018 Thanks to all 4 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said: Yes Pachy took his username from the first one, I suppose. I think your ids are at least pretty close, but I'm not an expert by far. Probably, yes. I'm revising my specimens with this publication: http://www.zobodat.at/stable/pdf/GeolPalaeMitt_023_0127-0191.pdf Though some dozen kilometres away (and not the same Formation), I think there may be a reasonable similarity between "my" coral fauna and the Torallola's one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaimin013 Posted May 8, 2018 Share Posted May 8, 2018 Incredible corals! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quer Posted May 24, 2018 Author Share Posted May 24, 2018 Let's show the solitary quarter's big boy: cyclolites sp. (cunnolites) Weight: 1.030 gr. Diameters: 110 x 100 mm. Height: 68 mm In some catalan Pyrenean areas cyclolites are relatively abundant, and had a folklore of its own. They were called "Witch's small bread roll" (Panets de bruixa, in catalan). Close-up pic: Flat base pic...: ...wich is littered with bryozoans and tiny serpulid worms: You can see its bigger (but less well-preserved) companion in this topic 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted May 24, 2018 Share Posted May 24, 2018 I think your Cretaceous corals are spectacular. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HansTheLoser Posted May 24, 2018 Share Posted May 24, 2018 Some comments on taxonomy 1) Heliopora (Polytremacis is a synonym). 2) Genus of the family Actinastraeidae, not Columactinastrea (no pali). 3) Synastrea or Leptophyllastrea. 4) Pachygyra or related genus. 5) Probably Placocoenia or Orbicella. Montastrea = poorly defined, better do not use. 6) Probably a genus from the Cladoridae. Pleurocora belongs to the Phyllosmiliidae, Latohelia to the Latomeandridae. 7) Cyclolites is the right name. Cunnolites is a synonym. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quer Posted May 24, 2018 Author Share Posted May 24, 2018 Thanks, Don, and thanks Hans for your impressive amount of taxonomical information. Thank you very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HansTheLoser Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Quer, there is modern literature that makes at least the determination of the genus not so difficult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doushantuo Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 There is a wealth of information on Cretaceous corals:Loeser,Bertling,Lathuiliere,Szabo... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted June 2, 2018 Share Posted June 2, 2018 Great collection! Quite a diverse coral fauna. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HansTheLoser Posted June 3, 2018 Share Posted June 3, 2018 @doushantuo : Lathuilière and Bertling have never worked on Cretaceous, mainly Jurassic. @Wrangellian : I don't know but seven species is not this diverse. Quer has probably more material he did not present. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quer Posted June 4, 2018 Author Share Posted June 4, 2018 I've read something by Baron-Szabo and, of course, I imagine the Catalogue of Cretaceous Corals by Löser is a reference, but I don’t already have it yet. Yes, I have more pieces, but no more guesses (I fear you kindly overestimate my knowledge), or they are not prepared. Well, here are some ones: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HansTheLoser Posted June 11, 2018 Share Posted June 11, 2018 On 4.6.2018 at 1:43 PM, Quer said: I've read something by Baron-Szabo and, of course, I imagine the Catalogue of Cretaceous Corals by Löser is a reference, but I don’t already have it yet. Well, here are some ones: The new material is not so easy to identify. Baron-Szabo did a good work finally sectioning these corals, but her taxonomy is rather conventional, so she overlooked taxa established by Reig Oriol. But to know the Reig Oriol taxa you must see the type themselves since the illustrations are not so good. The Catalogue may give you orientation for the systematic position of your material, but I guess that you have got also undescribed taxa. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quer Posted June 12, 2018 Author Share Posted June 12, 2018 Thank you very much, Hans. Certainly, it would be useless to show unidentified and likely unidentifiable corals. I hope the reading of the Catalogue and the Reig Oriol's Fauna coralina del nordeste de España will help to overcome my current impasse. Finally, I want to mention a couple of articles wich are improved my understanding of coral-rudist lithosomes: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323801227_Paleoecology_of_Rudists (pp. 17-19) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263009102_Corals_and_rudists_in_the_late_Cretaceous_a_critique_of_the_hypothesis_of_competitive_displacement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HansTheLoser Posted June 13, 2018 Share Posted June 13, 2018 Quer, you may obtain the Reig Oriol papers from the Seminario in Barcelona (contact Sebastian Calzada) but they are not of a great help because the illustrations do not help in ID the material. Moreover the descriptions are not up to date. Rudists never replaced corals as reef builders, but as carbonate producers, yes, they did. Try to continue to collect material and investigate in this fauna. If you need introductory material in Spanish please send a private message and I provide you with more information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quer Posted August 21, 2019 Author Share Posted August 21, 2019 I’ve shelved my study of corals for some months, let’s return to it. Here are some new pieces of very, very tiny corals. In this case I’m able to provide a precise stratigraphy, as they were in a Hippurites radiosus formation, a rudist which is a reliable stratigraphy marker for Upper Campanian in southern Pyrenees. Most rare are this “flower” corals that I guess belong to Heterocoenia genus. Maybe @HansTheLoser could help. Diameter around 4 mm. Some very small corals (diameter about 1 mm) I think from Actinastraea or related genus. Finally, a beautiful mould (?Synastrea) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HansTheLoser Posted August 24, 2019 Share Posted August 24, 2019 Yes, the first is very probably a member of the Heterocoeniidae, the second perhaps Actinastraeidae, the third Synastraeidae. -- Please look also at http://www.korallen-kreide.de The page is in German but they have some nice images. The Gosau revision is also in German, but an English abridged version may be helpful in order to understand the concept. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quer Posted August 30, 2019 Author Share Posted August 30, 2019 Thank you very much @HansTheLoser, a most interesting work, indeed. There is also an interesting site in my area where corals and rudists can be seem side by side, in open air. It is another Hippurites radiosus horizon (so, an Upper Campanian strata). Yet the fossils tend to be heavily crystalysed, you can take interesting pics: The site, amid typical mediterranean maquis: Let's start with this one. Left to right: Hippuritid, Radiolitid and some ?Agatheliidae corals Detail of the better preserved corallites: ?Heliopora octocorallians abound: And meandroid ones: ?Pachygyra (right) And least for the moment, a ?Hydnophorarea I think @FranzBernhard will enjoy this views too 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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