Halysites

Halysites
Temporal range: Ordovician to Silurian
Halysites sp. from the Silurian of Ohio; view of colony surface.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Anthozoa
Order: Tabulata
Family: Halysitidae
Genus: Halysites
von Waldheim 1828

Halysites (meaning chain coral) is an extinct genus of tabulate coral.[1] Colonies range from less than one to tens of centimeters in diameter, and they fed upon plankton.[2]

These tabulate corals lived from Ordovician to Silurian (from 449.5 to 412.3 Ma). Fossils of Halysites species have been found in the sediments of Canada, United States and Australia. [3]

Species


References

  1. Boardman, R.S. (1987). Fossil Invertebrates. Blackwell. p. 714.
  2. Feldman, R.M.; Hackathorn (1996). Fossils of Ohio. Ohio Division of Geological Survey Bulletin 70. pp. 577 .
  3. Paleobiology Database
Thin-section view of Halysites corallum.
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