Hexagonaria

Hexagonaria
Temporal range: Devonian, 416–359.2 Ma
Fossil Hexagonaria mirabilis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Anthozoa
Order: Stauriida
Family: Disphyllidae
Subfamily: Hexagonariinae
Genus: †Hexagonaria
Gürich, 1896
Species
  • H. anna
  • H. cristata
  • H. fusiformis
  • H. percarinata
  • H. alpenensis
  • H. subcarinata
  • H. attenuate
  • H. potterensis
  • H. profunda
  • H. mirabilis
Not to be confused with Hexagonia.

Hexagonaria was a genus of coral. Fossils are found in rock formations dating to the Devonian period, about 350 million years ago. Specimens of Hexagonaria can be found in most of the rock formations of the Traverse Group in Michigan. Fossils of this genus form Petoskey stones, the state stones of Michigan.[1]

Hexagonaria is a common constituent of the coral reefs exposed in Devonian Fossil Gorge below the Coralville Lake spillway.[2] and in many exposures of the Coralville Formation in the vicinity of Coralville, Iowa.[3]

References

  1. ^ Stumm, Erwin C. (19 June 1970) (PDF), Corals of the Transverse Group of Michigan Part 13, Hexagonaria, 23, Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, pp. 81–91, http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/48447/2/ID296.pdf 
  2. ^ Jean Prior, Devonian Fossil Gorge, Iowa Geological Survey, 1998.
  3. ^ Brian J. Witzke and Bill J. Bunker, Sedimentation and stratigraphic architecture of a Middle Devonian (late Givetian) transgressive-regressive carbonate-evaporite cycle, Coralville Formation, Iowa area, Paleozoic Sequence Stratrigrapy, Biostratrigraphy and Biogeology, Special Paper 321, Geological Society of America, 1997.

Further reading