Rare heliophyllum delicatum fossil

[Paulie777]

 

Rare Heliophyllum Delicatum. This is coral found only in the thin Moscow formation and only in Upstate New York. Mid Devonian and still in its living condition! 

[mikeymig]

Sorry your coral is not Heliophyllum delicatum or from the Moscow formation. Its a species of Syringopora (Goldfuss 1826) organ-pipe coral. I attached a pic of a Heliophyllum delicatum from the Moscow formation of NY. 

Mikeymig

[Paulie777]

No, you are mistaken. The specimen you have is a beautiful Heliophyllum confluens. Here is an example from the Yale museum. My coral is indeed heliophyllum delicatum from the Moscow formation in New York. 

 

[Kane]

Could you post a clearer photo of the specimen? At present, the long tubes present in your initial image does give the appearance of Syringopora.

[FossilDAWG]

Paulie, can you show a view from the top that shows the structure of the septa?  If they are a Heliophyllum they should have septa with yard-arm carinae.  I admit to be skeptical, as I have never seen Heliophyllum with such slender corallites; Mickey's suggestion seems reasonable to me.  However, I am willing to be educated on the matter.

Also, I edited your post to remove the snarky comment.  We can disagree and discuss here and be civil about it.

 

Don

[mikeymig]

[digit]

Your specimen at the beginning of this post sure seems to match the thin tubular shape of a Syringopora organ-pipe coral. I'm not familiar with the fossil species but I have seen and collected the extant species from Indo-Pacific waters (it's a lovely red color).

 

EDIT: I was thinking of a similar (extant) coral genus called Tubipora musica (also called the Organ Pipe Coral) which is shaped very similar but different from the older Syringopora.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Paulie777]

[Paulie777]

[Kane]

I’m seeing no resemblance to H. delicatum here... 

[mikeymig]

Thank you for posting better pics. Your coral is a colonial rugose coral Acinophyllum stramineum, from the Onondaga Limestone. Its not from the Moscow formation. It was transported to the site you discovered it by ice or water. 

[Mark Kmiecik]

3 hours ago, Kane said:

Could you post a clearer photo of the specimen? At present, the long tubes present in your initial image does give the appearance of Syringopora.

Or even Lithostrotion. Looks nothing like H. delicatum. 

[FossilDAWG]

I agree with Mickey.  I have collected this species from the Onondaga in Ontario.  The new photos are much better (thanks!) and they do not show anything like a Heliophyllum internal structure.

 

Don

[Paulie777]

Thank You fossil posters. I feel more informed and am continuing on the right path discovering and researching this.