Coral (5) from the Campanian St. Bartholomä formation, Styria, Austria (Gosau group, Eastern Alps)

[FranzBernhard]

Hello,

here I am again with a recently (10/14/2018) found coral colony from the Campanian St. Bartholomä-formation in Styria, Austria (Gosau-group). Its very poorly preserved and I have only very little hopes that it is possible to assign a genus to it. I don´t think its an Actinastrea, it seems more like a Barysmilia (according to Baron-Szabo, 2014), but I am really clueless.

First pic is a polished part of the specimen. Preservation is very poor.

Second pic is the "upper" surface, its strongly worn, only the position of the corallites can be seen, with some occasional septa. The polished area is located at the bottom.

Third pic is an oblique side view. The specimen measures about 10 cm in its longest dimension.

Worn-down corallites can be found all around the specimen.

Thank you very much for your patience, help and opinions!
Franz Bernhard

[Tidgy's Dad]

No idea, but I think it's rather attractive. 

[HansTheLoser]

I would need a better image of the polished section, a closer view. It looks at the first glance being Barysmilia BUT dimensions are fare too small for this genus. So please, a more closer look. 

[FranzBernhard]

Thanks, Hans!

Oh, this pic is not expandable, I have uploaded a resized pic, sorry!

Here is a larger one, with original resolution of 1200 dpi (contrast enhanced, sharpend, little bit compressed).

This specimen has a very low contrast and this is the best I can do.

Have also checked scale bar, is ok!

Thanks again!
Franz Bernhard

[HansTheLoser]

Yes, things are clearer now. Look the picture below. Darker grey=coral substance. It is a hydnophoroid form. There are actually only two genera, Hydnophoraraea and Synhydnophora. The last one was just recently described as new (http://www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.18476/pale.11.a7). They differ in their septal structure, hardly to see in your image.

 

 

[FranzBernhard]

Hans,

thank you very much for your help and the link to this paper. Never ending diversity!

Franz Bernhard

[HansTheLoser]

Most of these newly described taxa are well known, but not recognised being different. For instance Paractinacis is a common genus but species were always assigned to Actinacis. If people would have made longitudinal sections, they would have easily recognised  that there are differences.