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Coral (8+9) from the Campanian St. Bartholomä formation, Styria, Austria (Gosau group, Eastern Alps)


FranzBernhard

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The next two corals from St. Bartholomä...

I collected this specimen nearly a year ago. Thought, it has some kind of borings. But I was a little bit confused, because most of the "borings" or tubes have a regular and tight, axial ornamentation. Polished cross sections revealed not much, but a few corallites (A, B, C). One of the tubes at the margin of the specimen shows some "shell" material with ornamentation on both sides (D). The left side is in contact with younger sediment, the right side with fossiliferous limestone. On the surface of the specimen, no shell material was observed within the tubes. Just a few days ago, I recognized a corallite cross section on the surface of the specimen with some fuzzy septa (X).

In conclusion, I think, this could be the outer cast of a phaceloid-dendroid coral colony with nearly no "shell" material preserved - just a cast. In the Gosau-group, genera like Procladocora, Cladocora, Calamophylliopsis look somewhat similar.

Thanks for your interest and opinion!

Franz Bernhard

AN_Koralle_AN4181_AN4189_kompr.thumb.jpg.5806e7fbad8e3cb36baf9b5465f2af37.jpg

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And the next - and last - one. Lots and lots of "borings". Thought, these are Lithophaga borings, but so many so close together? After some natural cleaning in some rain, I saw the regular axial ornamentation within some tubes. So I am interpreting this "thing" in analogy to the specimen above also as an external cast of a phaceloid-dendroid coral colony. 

Thanks for looking!
Franz Bernhard

Koralle_36_4278_kompr.thumb.jpg.e0abd6c4b2f9d4078c85abb947a5f003.jpg

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On 3.6.2019 at 8:57 AM, FranzBernhard said:

Procladocora, Cladocora, Calamophylliopsis

 

I guessyour material belongs to Procladocora, even if poorly preserved. All other phaceloid forms (?Carantophyllum, Pleurocora, Palaeohelia, Nefophyllia) have much thicker walls and no costae. The relationship between Procladocora and Cladocora is yet unsolved, but they belong to the same family. Calamophylliopsis is a rare Late Jurassic (? Early Cretaceous) coral. Early Cretaceous material hitherto assigned to Calamophylliopsis belongs to Latohelia. This genus  reaches only the Cenomanian.

I am not able to comment the second find.

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