Carboniferous Rugose Corals Research Articles

Statement of Retraction: Characteristics and environmental significance of upper carboniferous rugose corals in the Qijiagou section, southern margin of the Junggar Basin

Statement of Retraction: Characteristics and environmental significance of upper carboniferous rugose corals in the Qijiagou section, southern margin of the Junggar Basin

Palaeogeographic significance of rugose corals: El Guadiato Area (Southwestern Spain) as a case study

Carboniferous rugose corals are useful for palaeoecological, palaeoenvironmental and palaeogeographic studies. However, most analyses are qualitative and/or comprise corals from long stratigraphical intervals, and detailed palaeogeographic studies in the Carboniferous from western Palaeotethys are scarce. This report presents a quantitative analysis of the late Visean coral assemblages from the El Guadiato Area (Southwestern Spain), which has been thoroughly studied during the last 30 years. This case study aims to check the utility of rugose corals in detailed palaeogeographic studies, reconstructing tectonic movements in the suture zone between the Ossa Morena and Centroiberian domains in the Iberian Massif. Sixty-one rugose coral species from the El Guadiato Area were included in the analyses. Moreover, two other late Visean rugose coral faunas have been added as an external reference: Los Santos de Maimona (Southwestern Spain) and Kingscourt (Ireland). The presence/absence datasets have been treated with paired group (UPGMA) Hierarchical Clustering and a Detrended Correspondence Analysis. The results of this study support previous observations about the palaeogeography of the El Guadiato Area, backing the hypothesis that the strike slip faults of the area produced large lateral displacements. The results of analyses conducted at this level of detail appear to be conditioned by palaeoenvironmental differences, but the results of the comparison with Los Santos de Maimona and with Kingscourt’s faunas look promising for future larger comparisons between different basins.

Carboniferous biostratigraphy of rugose corals

Abstract Rugose corals are one of the major fossil groups in shallow-water environments. They played an important role in dividing and correlating Carboniferous strata during the last century, when regional biostratigraphic schemes were established, and may be useful for long-distance correlation. Carboniferous rugose corals document two evolutionary events. One is the Tournaisian recovery event, with abundant occurrences of typical Carboniferous rugose corals such as columellate taxa and a significant diversification of large, dissepimented corals. The other is the changeover of rugose coral composition at the mid-Carboniferous boundary, which is represented by the disappearance of many large dissepimented taxa with complex axial structures and the appearance of typical Pennsylvanian taxa characterized by compound rugose taxa. The biostratigraphic scales for rugose corals show a finer temporal resolution in the Mississippian than in the Pennsylvanian, which was probably caused by the Late Paleozoic Ice Age that resulted in glacial–eustatic changes and a lack of continuous Pennsylvanian carbonate strata. The Pennsylvanian rugose corals are totally missing in the Cimmerian Continent. High-resolution biostratigraphy of rugose corals has so far only been achieved in few regions for the Mississippian timescale. In most regions, more detailed taxonomic work and precise correlations between different fossil groups are needed.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Characteristics and environmental significance of upper carboniferous rugose corals in the Qijiagou section, southern margin of the Junggar Basin

Statement of Retraction We, the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Historical Biology (the “Historical Biology”), have retracted the following article: Luo, Z., Zhou, X., Wang, J., Feng, Q., Wang, R., You, J., Duan, M., Xiao, J., Shi, T. & Liya, A. 2022. Characteristics and environmental significance of upper carboniferous rugose corals in the Qijiagou section, southern margin of the Junggar Basin. Hist Biol. 34(9): 1780-1787. doi: 10.1080/08912963.2021.1978991 Following publication, the journal was made aware of issues about the integrity of the study and reported findings. An investigation by the Taylor & Francis Publishing Ethics & Integrity team in full cooperation with the Editor-in-Chief concluded that the article was not peer-reviewed appropriately, in line with the Journal’s peer review standards and policy. As the stringency of the peer review process is core to the integrity of the publication process, the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher have decided to retract the article. The authors have been informed of this decision. We have been informed in our decision-making by our editorial policies and the COPE guidelines. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but will be digitally watermarked on each page as ‘Retracted’.

Labechia carbonaria Smith 1932 in the Early Carboniferous of England; affinity, palaeogeographic position and implications for the geological history of stromatoporoid-type sponges

Stromatoporoid sponges were very abundant during the middle Palaeozoic Era and are thought to disappear at the end of the Devonian Period in the Hangenberg Crisis. However, there are records of organisms with stromatoporoid-type structure in Carboniferous strata, the subject of this study. The Viséan fossil Labechia carbonaria Smith 1932 has been discussed previously in literature and its affinity has not been confirmed. In this study, the type material of L. carbonaria collected from the middle part of the Frizington Limestone Formation (previously called Seventh Limestone), Holkerian Substage, stored in the Natural History Museum (London, UK) and British Geological Survey (Keyworth, UK) was re-examined. The Holkerian Substage, in which L. carbonaria was found, lies between ca 335–339 Ma, and the Frizington Limestone Formation ranges from topmost Arundian to upper Holkerian, so middle Frizington Limestone Formation is likely approximately 337 Ma. L. carbonaria comprises thick long pillars connected by thin curved cyst plates consistent with the structure of the stromatoporoid genus Labechia. However, a common opinion is that L. carbonaria fossils may be mistaken for fragments of rugose corals, but there are problems with assigning it to the Rugosa. In vertical section (VS) L. carbonaria could be mistaken for a transverse section (TS) of a Carboniferous rugose coral. However, in TS L. carbonaria shows the rounded cross sections of stromatoporoid pillars. If it was a coral, septal sheets of the VS of a coral should be seen. For a rugose affinity to still apply, a coral structure would have to be composed of free trabeculae, but these are not known after the middle of the Devonian Period; there are no corals of Early Carboniferous age with the structure of L. carbonaria. Another interpretation, that L. carbonaria is a chaetetid, is discounted because it lacks calicles and is very different in structure from chaetetids. We conclude that L. carbonaria is a stromatoporoid. Because the beginning of the Carboniferous Period was ca 359 Ma, stromatoporoids thus occur approximately 22 million years after their purported disappearance at the end-Devonian Hangenberg Crisis. L. carbonaria, together with other rare occurrences in Carboniferous strata of stromatoporoid-form sponges Newellia mira (Newell) in USA, and uncertain taxa Komia Korde and Palaeoaplysina Krottow that have been attributed to stromatoporoids by some authors, supports some published views that end-Devonian stromatoporoid extinction may not have been as final as is traditionally interpreted. Thus Mesozoic stromatoporoids may represent resurgence of sponge lineages that survived the late Palaeozoic, perhaps in uncalcified form. Palaeogeographically, during the Early Carboniferous, the UK was positioned in low latitudes and in a central location of global distribution of reefal buildups during the late Palaeozoic continental assembly towards Pangaea. Thus it is curious that L. carbonaria is found in only one place; future search may determine its true palaeographic distribution, with potential reconsideration of the extinction of stromatoporoids at the end of the Devonian Period.

Phylogenetic and palaeobiological implications of a new Carboniferous rugose coral with unusual trait combinations from the Akiyoshi Terrane of Japan

Morphologically and reproductively constrained colonial Rugosa were recovered from Late Carboniferous (possibly Bashkirian) strata of the Akiyoshi Terrane, south-west Japan. Individual corallites are very small (diameter c.1.7 mm) and exhibit a uniserial fasciculate form with a deep calice. The essential characteristics of the Rugosa, including walls, major and minor septa, tabulae and columellae, are present. However, each morphological component shows an end-member feature (e.g. thick walls for corallites with very small diameter and simple columella), especially consistent with rugose corals considering phylogenetic and structural constraints. Increase is parricidal, occurring only by dichotomous branching in the cardinal–counter plane. The combination of these components results in a somewhat unbalanced morphology, and is the basis for the establishment of Yamatophyllum ultimum gen. et sp. nov. It is likely that the new genus was a terminal lineage, an ephemeral evolutionary experiment within the rugosan clade. Interestingly, morphologically similar but phylogenetically distinct corals commonly appeared in the initial stages of both rugosan and scleractinian diversifications, suggesting restrictions on the available morphospace of corals throughout the Phanerozoic.http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:F847EC54-28F3-405B-AC7A-459F60458FF0

Lower Carboniferous rugose corals from the Arabian Plate: An insight from the Hakkari area (SE Turkey)

The Köprülü Formation of the Hakkari area (SE Turkey) is composed of a mixed carbonate–siliciclastic succession of Early Carboniferous age. The lower part of the formation yielded an abundant but poorly diversified coral fauna composed of small non-dissepimented solitary rugose corals, namely Rotiphyllum cf. simulatumFedorowski 2009, Zaphrentites parallela (Carruthers, 1910), cf. Gorizdronia, gen. et sp. indet., Amplexizaphrentis sp. and Amplexizaphrentis zapense sp. nov. and specimens of Caninia cf. cornucopiaeMichelin in Gervais 1840, a dissepimented solitary coral showing a counter septum-related columella. The lower part of the Köprülü Formation is of supposed late Tournaisian age based on micropaleontological data. However, the coral assemblage indicates rather an early Viséan age. The Hakkari corals form a strongly facies-related association (“Cyathaxonia fauna”) and are compared to other areas with some difficulties. The most similar, time-equivalent faunal associations is that of the Sinai Peninsula (NE Egypt). Both localities belonged, during Early Carboniferous times, to the Arabian Platform situated along the northern margin of Gondwana. The Gondwana-related Taurides units (Aladağ), North Iran Block and Afghanistan, characterized by a dominant carbonate facies and more diversified coral faunas, formed during these times, the distal parts of the Arabian Platform.

An Unusual Occurrence of Bashkirian (Pennsylvanian) Rugose Corals From the Sverdrup Basin, Arctic Canada

The oldest known Carboniferous rugose coral fauna in the Canadian Arctic Islands was collected in the Yelverton Inlet area of northern Ellesmere Island, from Bashkirian carbonates of the lower Nansen and Otto Fiord formations. It includes the generaDibunophyllumThomson and Nicholson,LonsdaleiaMcCoy,PalaeosmiliaMilne-Edwards and Haime andTizraia? Said and Rodríguez. Such a generic assemblage is unknown elsewhere above the Serpukhovian. An upper? Bashkirian specimen ofParaheritschioidesSando, collected above the main fauna, is the oldest known representative of that genus. Faunal comparisons suggest Novaya Zemlya or northern Timan as the most likely source areas for the Yelverton Inlet fauna.

New unusual skeletal structure in an upper Carboniferous rugose coral, Klamath Mountains, northern California

Unique among the Rugosa are specialized cyst-like structures in corals from an upper Carboniferous limestone within the Baird Formation in the Klamath Mountains, northern California. These structures, here referred to as septal cysts, occur mostly along the distal margins of the dark line extending along the axes of the major septa as seen in transverse section. However, they also commonly extend beyond the distal extent of those lines and may interrupt the fibrous coating in the more proximal parts of some septa. Their function is uncertain. Also present are small dissepiments which form a ring around the distal margins of the minor septa. These structures, however, do not appear to be related to the development of those septa. Some other taxa, including corals from the Bashkirian of Spain and the Kasimovian of Kansas, possess some specialized structures similar to those in the California specimens suggesting at least a remote relationship.

Diversity patterns of Carboniferous and Permian rugose corals in South China

AbstractThe diversity and changing patterns of rugose corals in the Carboniferous and Permian of South China are analysed by statistical analyses of 45 families, 284 genera, and 1979 species from 14 consecutive time intervals. The ancestors of Carboniferous rugose corals originated early and underwent preliminary radiation in the late Famennian, but were eliminated by the Hangenberg global regressive event, which marks the Devonian—Carboniferous boundary. Radiation of typical Carboniferous rugose corals began in the late Tournaisian, when they were represented by an abundance of columellate taxa such asKueichouphyllumand a significant diversification ofKeyserlingophyllum. A decrease in the diversity of rugose genera occurred in the Serpukhovian, followed by a change in the composition of the rugose coral assemblages at the Mid‐Carboniferous Serpukhovian—Bashkirian boundary, where large dissepimented taxa with complex axial structures disappeared. In the Bashkirian the Serpukhovian taxa were replaced by compound rugosan taxa of the Geyerophyllidae, Kepingophyllidae and Waagenophyllidae. This compositional change was associated with a global regressive event, recognized in South China by the absence of upper Serpukhovian strata in many places and by several erosional surfaces in carbonate sequences in the Lower Yangtze region. This regressive event was probably caused by an episode of glaciation in Gondwana. Subsequent transgression occurred in South China during the early Bashkirian, where a wide, uniform shallow‐water platform developed in South China, on which were deposited tidal‐flat dolostone and pure limestone containing compound rugose corals. Another change in the rugose coral assemblages, at the Sakmarian‐Artinskian boundary, resulted in the absence from the Artinskian of representatives of typical Pennsylvanian and Early Permian families such as the Bothrophyllidae, Lithostrotionidae, Cyathopsidae, and Petalaxidae. Families uniquely typical of the Permian, characterized by Waagenophyllidae and Kepingophyllidae, dominate post‐Sakmarian strata. This faunal change may be related to a major, worldwide regression, recognized at the end of the Sakmarian. Extinction of rugose corals at the end of the Permian occurred in two phases in South China. The first phase occurred at the end of the Capitanian and eliminated 47% of the families and 45% of the genera. Extrusion of the Omeishan Basalt, which is widely distributed in the western part of South China, and/or a global regression at the end of the Guadalupian could be the principal causes of this first phase of mass extinction. The second phase, which occurred at the end of the Changhsingian and is the largest extinction event in Earth's history, eliminated all remaining rugose corals. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A new Carboniferous rugose coral genus from northern England

Pleionastraea gen. nov. of the family Lithostrotionidae is described from the Lower Carboniferous Brigantian Stage of northern England. Two species, P. magnaP. matura, are referred to it. This astraeoid/thamnasterioid genus is distinguished from Orionastraea by its larger dimensions, but is considered to have followed the same evolutionary trend of a gradual breakdown of the corallite wall.

The youngest Carboniferous rugose corals from Northern Africa (NE Egypt) - palaeoenvironment and systematics

The youngest Carboniferous rugose corals from Northern Africa (NE Egypt) - palaeoenvironment and systematics

New offset-associated structures in some Carboniferous rugose corals

Tubular structures termed ducts, which extend from the base of offsets axially and upwards through the disscpimental tissue of the parent corallite, are described from some Carboniferous rugose corals. Two ducts are usually associated with each offset, one from each extremity where the offset wall meets that of the parent. The ducts may merge to form a tangentially elongate slit at higher levels in the disscpimcntarium of the parent. The structures served to prolong gastric and nervous communication between parent and daughter polpys following budding. Ducts and slits are well developed in cerioid Lonsdaleia but are absent in fasciculate Lonsdaleia, a distinction lending credence to the recognition of the former group of species as a distinct genus, Actinocyathas, within the Axophyllidac. In addition, less well developed ducts are present in at least some cerioid species of Lithostrotion, whereas they are absent from fasciculate species, supporting separation of the latter from Lithostrotion sensu stricto and their assignment to the genus Siphonodendron. The form and distribution of duets also confirms polyphyly in Thysanophyllum. The separation of T. pseudovermiculare (as Dorlodotia), without ducts, from Thysanophyllum sensu stricto, with weak ducts similar to those in some Lithostrotion spp., is supported. Both arc assigned to the T. pmedictum has well developed ducts, however, which reinforces other evidence suggesting its removal from Thysanophyllum and classification in the Axophyllidac in close affinity with Actinocyathus, Rugosa, offsets, ducts, functional morphology, taxonomy, Carboniferous.

DISCOVERY OF THE CARBONIFEROUS CORAL DORLODOTIA IN NORTHERN ENGLAND

Discovery of the Carboniferous rugose coral Dorlodotia briarti in the upper Scandal Beck Limestone of Ravenstonedale, Cumbria suggests that these beds should be correlated with the Belgian Cf4δ Foraminifera Zone (late Arundian) to which this species is confined. The base of the Arundian Stage in Ravenstonedale should therefore be lowered. The genus Dorlodotia is considered to be the fasciculate equivalent of Lithostrotionella and the columellate equivalent of Thysanophyllum.

A Monograph on the Carboniferous Rugose Corals of Scotland. Part IV Pages 205–213 Including Title-Page, Table of Contents, Errata, and Index

(1941). A Monograph on the Carboniferous Rugose Corals of Scotland. Part IV Pages 205–213 Including Title-Page, Table of Contents, Errata, and Index. Monographs of the Palaeontographical Society: Vol. 95, No. 424, pp. 205-213.

A Monograph on the Carboniferous Rugose Corals of Scotland. Part III Pages 115–204; Plates VI–XI

A Monograph on the Carboniferous Rugose Corals of Scotland. Part III Pages 115–204; Plates VI–XI

The Palæontographical Society

AT the annual meeting of the Palaeontographical Society held in the rooms of the Geological Society on March 31, the Council reported that the Society's ninety-first annual volume had been issued during the past year. This volume contains the first part of a new monograph on the Carboniferous Rugose Corals of Scotland by Dr. Dorothy Hill. Largely based on the extensive and oft-quoted material studied by James Thomson and afterwards disorganized by the fire in the Kilmarnock Museum in 1909, this monograph introduces considerable simplification in systematic nomenclature.—Further instalments of the monographs on Cambrian trilobites by Mr. P. Lake and on corallian ammonites by Dr. W. J. Arckell are also included in this volume. The work of the Society in publishing illustrations and descriptions of fossils collected in Great Britain has been materially assisted by an allotment of £100, from the Government Publication Grant administered by the Royal Society, towards the issue of the monograph on corallian ammonites. Other donations mentioned in the report include sums of money received from the Colston Research Fund of the University of Bristol and from Miss Mary S. Johnston. Monographs which are also in progress include Pleistocene Mammalia (Prof. S. H. Reynolds), Cretaceous Belemnites (Prof. H. H. Swinnerton, Gault Ammonoidea (Dr. L. F. Spath), Great Oolite Brachiopoda (Dr. Helen Muir-Wood), Dendroid Graptolites (Dr. O. M. B. Bulman) and Palaeozoic Asterozoa (Dr. W. K. Spencer). The following officers were elected for the ensuing year: President, Sir A. Smith Woodward; Treasurer, W. E. F. Macmillan; Secretary, Dr. C. J. Stubblefield.

A Monograph on the Carboniferous Rugose Corals of Scotland. Part I. Pages 1–78; Plates I, II

(1940). A Monograph on the Carboniferous Rugose Corals of Scotland. Part III Pages 115–204; Plates VI–XI. Monographs of the Palaeontographical Society: Vol. 94, No. 419, pp. 115-204.