Abstract
Palaeobiogeographical and palaeodiversity patterns of scleractinian reef corals are generally biased due to uncertain taxonomy and a loss of taxonomic characters through dissolution and recrystallization of the skeletal aragonite in shallow marine limestones. Herein, we describe a fossil lobophylliid coral in mouldic preservation from the early middle Miocene Leitha Limestone of the Central Paratethys Sea (Vienna Basin, Austria). By using grey-scale image inversion and silicone rubber casts for the visualization of the original skeletal anatomy and the detection of distinct micromorphological characters (i.e. shape of septal teeth, granulation of septocostae) Parascolymia bracherti has been identified as a new species in spite of the dissolved skeleton. In the recent era, Parascolymia like all Lobophylliidae is restricted to the Indo-Pacific region, where it is represented by a single species. The new species proves the genus also in the Miocene Mediterranean reef coral province. A review of the spatio-temporal relationships of fossil corals related to Parascolymia indicates that the genus was probably rooted in the Eastern Atlantic‒Western Tethys region during the Paleocene to Eocene and reached the Indo-Pacific region not before the Oligocene. The revealed palaeobiogeographical pattern shows an obvious congruence with that of Acropora and tridacnine bivalves reflecting a gradual equatorwards retreat of the marine biodiversity center parallel to the Cenozoic climate deterioration.
Highlights
Traditional classification and phylogeny of the Scleractinia Bourne, 1900 depend almost exclusively on macromorphological characters related to the corallite architecture and the integration of corallites within colonies, which can be measured on recent and fossil coral skeletons [1, 2]
Parascolymia bracherti sp. nov. is described from the Leitha Limestone (Langhian‒early Serravallian) in the Vienna Basin (Central Paratethys, Austria) based on the mould of a single corallum
The results show that coral moulds potentially prove the chance to study micromorphological characters of reef corals from shallow water limestones where skeletal aragonite is usually dissolved
Summary
Traditional classification and phylogeny of the Scleractinia Bourne, 1900 depend almost exclusively on macromorphological characters related to the corallite architecture and the integration of corallites within colonies, which can be measured on recent and fossil coral skeletons [1, 2]. As a prominent feature of modern global biogeography, species diversity of many marine biota reaches a maximum in the Indo-Australian Archipelago (Malaysia, Indonesia, New Guinea, and the Philipines) of the Indo-West Pacific region This great diversity of marine life reflects the range of shallow marine habitats which include coral reefs along with seagrass meadows and mangroves [8,9]. Was found in the Müllendorf quarry (N 47°51’29.48”, E 16°27’04.87”) at the southwestern margin of the Leitha Mountains in the Vienna Basin (Austria; Fig 1) This outcrop preserves a record of corallinacean-dominated shallow water carbonates (Leitha Limestone) with intermittent coral-, mollusc- (i.e. Isognomon, Hyotissa), bryozoan- and siliciclastic-rich intervals [18]. This facies is interpreted to represent a shallow subtidal carbonate sand flat slightly influenced by terrigenous supply, and inhabited by a sparse non-framework forming coral community composed of Tarbellastraea and Acanthastrea with massive growth forms as well as thin-branching Porites [18]
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