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Columellophora

Eliasova, 1989, p. 114

Type Species

Columellophora velimensis Eliášová, 1989: 114; Original Designation Eliášová, 1989: 114

Type Specimen: Holotype; ; Verified; Unknown

Type Locality: Upper Cenomanian-Lower Turonian of the Czech Republic (Bohemia).

The type material is housed at UUG (Prague) under HF 2.484 (thin section numbers 88874/II-88878/II).

Classification

Diagnosis

Colonial, cerioid, cerio-plocoid, subthamnasterioid, submeandroid. Budding extra- and intracalicular. Corallites connected by their walls or embedded in vesicular to subtabulate ambulacrum-like coenosteum. Septa generally short, nonconfluent to subconfluent, in irregular systems. Costae present or absent. Columella ?absent. No pali, no synapticulae. Lonsdaleoid septa present. Endothecal dissepiments tabulate and large vesicular. Wall septoparathecal.

Remarks

In a recent work (Loeser, 2016, p. 247-248), the genus Columellophora was described as having characteristics such as hydnophoroid-cerioid corallite integration, lacking both costae and coenosteum, and having extracalicular budding. In addition, in the same work, this genus was grouped with the family Eugyridae. However, as can be clearly seen in the images of the holotype of the type species, C. velimensis Eliášová, 1989 (Eliášová, 1989, pl. I, figs. 1a-c; Loeser, 2016, p. 247), there are costate developments, extra- and intracalicular budding (e.g., fission, presence of tristomodaeal corallites, and others), and ambulacrum-like coenosteum (Eliášová, 1989, Pl. I, Figs. 1a and c). Furthermore, because there are hardly any isolated portions of elevated corallite walls around which septa are arranged, the presence of any hydnophoroid corallite integration type (as claimed in Loeser, et al. 2013, p. 48; Loeser, 2016, p. 247) is rather non-existent. As can be clearly seen in Eliášová (1989, pl. I, figs. 1a and c), the genus Columellophora is characterized by cerioid, cerio-plocoid, subthamnasterioid, and submeandroid types of corallite integration. In addition, because lonsdaleoid septa are present in a small number of places, the genus shows close affinities to the family Heterocoeniidae which belongs to a suborder that is different from the one of the family Eugyridae.

Distribution

  • Central Europe; Late Cretaceous
Upper Cenomanian-Lower Turonian of the Czech Republic (Bohemia).

This page has been in preparation since 02-Jun-2007 12:35

This version was contributed by Rosemarie Baron-Szabo on 18-Feb-2018 20:33.

Page authors are: Rosemarie Baron-Szabo. Please contact the editor if you would like to contribute to the diagnosis of this taxon.

The editor is: Rosemarie Baron-Szabo


Columellophora velimensis Eliasova, 1989, thin section, cross view of holotype
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Columellophora velimensis Eliášová,1989, holotype, photographs courtesy Dr. Eliasova
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Columellophora velimensis Eliasova, 1989, upper surface of holotype
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