Coral (2) from the Campanian St. Bartholomä formation, Styria, Austria (Gosau group, Eastern Alps)

[FranzBernhard]

Hello,

here is the next (second) coral from the Campanian of St. Bartholomä, Styria, Austria.

Not much was visible at the outside (I did not even notice it as coral colony!), but on sectioning, the specimen reveald its beauty. Unfortunately, he contrast is rather low. The two polished sections are about 35 mm apart, the first seems to be near the surface of the colony (with a Lithophaga?).

 

The closest match I can find in Baron-Szabo (2014) is Barysmilia irregularis (Reuss, 1854). Three polished surfaces from this work are attached, scale bars are 5.5, 9.5 and 11 mm, respectively. They are all from the upper Santonian of Neffgraben, Gosau, Austria.

 

Thank you very much for looking and for your help!
Franz Bernhard

[HansTheLoser]

Barysmilia is OK, but B. irregularis has much smaller dimensions and lower septal counts. I would assign this specimen to Barysmilia sp. I have seen comparable material from the Zimmergraben area. See attached measurements of your sample.

Measurements and statistical analysis are decisive for species separation.

BTW, there is a monograph on Conciacian/Santonian corals from the Gosau area in preparation for the next year where you probably may find most of your corals.

 

[FranzBernhard]

Hans, thank you very much for your answer and your meassurements! I am really happy that I obviously got the genus right (Did not realy expect that).

Thanks, yes, I have seen that there is a coral book in preparation and the sample page. This will be an impressive work! May I post a link for other interested users?

Meanwhile I have to stick to the work of Baron-Szabo (2014)...

 

The corals from St. Bartholomä are a little bit younger than Coniacian-Santonian, most probably "lower" Campanian. I am wondering whats the real age range of the different coral species in the Gosau group - ?

Franz Bernhard

 

[HansTheLoser]

On 12.8.2018 at 10:35 PM, FranzBernhard said:

 

Thanks, yes, I have seen that there is a coral book in preparation and the sample page. This will be an impressive work! May I post a link for other interested users?

 

Sure, if there is anybody interested here, and if links are allowed here.

 

On 12.8.2018 at 10:35 PM, FranzBernhard said:

Meanwhile I have to stick to the work of Baron-Szabo (2014)...

 

Try the older BZ work from 2003; it has more sections. BZ 2014 is complicated because of the limited quality of illustrations.

 

On 12.8.2018 at 10:35 PM, FranzBernhard said:

The corals from St. Bartholomä are a little bit younger than Coniacian-Santonian, most probably "lower" Campanian. I am wondering whats the real age range of the different coral species in the Gosau group - ?

 

Ranges of Cretaceous coral genera are high, more than 20Ma. Species is dificult to tell since we do not know what is a species ... but I am sure that the Austrian Campanian is close to the Austrian Santonian than to Spanish or Arabian Campanian (higher temperatures causes differences in the faunal composition). The bad thing is that this Campanian stuff is very poorly investigated. Baron-Szabo has some papers with nice thin sections, but the taxonomy needs revision. 

[FranzBernhard]

Thank you very much for your help and your insight, Hans!

 

8 hours ago, HansTheLoser said:

Sure, if there is anybody interested here, and if links are allowed here.

Here is the link to the coral book in preparation (Corals from Rußbach and Gosau, Coniacian-Santonian, Austria):

http://www.cp-v.de/books/gosau.htm

 

8 hours ago, HansTheLoser said:

Try the older BZ work from 2003

Thanks, will do that!

 

8 hours ago, HansTheLoser said:

Ranges of Cretaceous coral genera are high, more than 20Ma. Species is dificult to tell since we do not know what is a species ... but I am sure that the Austrian Campanian is close to the Austrian Santonian than to Spanish or Arabian Campanian (higher temperatures causes differences in the faunal composition). The bad thing is that this Campanian stuff is very poorly investigated. Baron-Szabo has some papers with nice thin sections, but the taxonomy needs revision.

Thanks for the deep insight!

Franz Bernhard

[HansTheLoser]

Maybe it should be mentioned that along with the book in the German language an abridged version in the English language will be published either as PDF or on paper, or both.