Pycnostylus Coral with Favositdae Coral A0.JPG

Pycnostylus Coral with Favositdae Coral

Helderberg Limestone, found Central City area, Somerset County, PA; probably transported from Bedford County, PA
Devonian Age (~400 Million Years ago)
Pycnostylus Ecology: stationary intermediate-level epifaunal microcarnivore. The genus Pycnostylus differs from Amplexus only in the circumstance that it grows in colonies of compound and apparently fasciculated corallites. Favosites is an extinct genus of tabulate coral characterized by polygonal closely packed corallites (giving it the common name "honeycomb coral"). The walls between corallites are pierced by pores known as mural pores which allowed transfer of nutrients between polyps. Favosites, like all coral, thrived in warm sunlit seas, forming colorful reefs, feeding by filtering microscopic plankton with their stinging tentacles. The genus had a worldwide distribution from the Late Ordovician to Late Permian. The split taxonomy:
Kingdom: Animalia/Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria/Cnidaria
Class: Anthozoa, Subclass: †Rugosa/ Anthozoa, Subclass: †Tabulata
Order: †Stauriida/†Favositida
Family: †Pycnostylidae/†Favositidae
Genus: †Pycnostylus/†Favosites