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The first aragonitic rugose coral

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

J. Wendt*
Affiliation:
Institut und Museum für Geologie und Paläontologie der Universität Tübingen, Sigwartstrasse 10, West Germany

Abstract

Microstructural and compositional data support the view that the skeletons of rugose corals consisted of (probably high-Mg) calcite, unlike the skeletons of scleractinian corals which are predominantly aragonitic. Total transformation of a late Permian rugose coral skeleton into neomorphic calcite and a significant trace element composition, however, show that aragonite was present in some Rugosa shortly prior to the extinction of this order. This finding sheds new light on the possible phylogenetic relationship between Rugosa and Scleractinia, which still possess a different mode of septal insertion and remain separated by an as yet coral-free interval in the Lower Triassic.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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