Friday, August 7, 2020

Schlotheimophyllum sp. coral from the Lousiville Limestone

I had some help with the ID of these next two specimens. They are both the coral Schlotheimophyllum sp.  from the Louisville limestone near Louisville, Kentucky.  The first specimen came to me from Mike P. who runs the excellent "Louisville Fossils and Beyond" blog.

Specimen #1 - top view of calice

Angled view of the calice

Side views of the corallum with each subsequent picture showing the side rotated 90 degrees from the prior picture.




Bottom of the corallum

The second specimen shown below I found myself in the field near Louisville, KY.  I wanted to make sure it was the same genera as the above specimen from Mike P. so I referred to the book by Erwin Charles Stumm; "Silurian and Devonian Corals of the Falls of the Ohio". to help ID and found a possible match on page 25, plate 25, fig. 1-8. Stumm has several species listed but they all have a somewhat flat to funnel shaped calice with thick septa. The specimen below appears similar to that description and to the specimen above, so I am comfortable labeling it as Schlotheimophyllum sp. as well.

Specimen #2 - view of the top of the calice

Angled view of the calcie (I don't know what the foreign attachment is as there is little detail preserved. Perhaps a brachiopod or another coral established itself prior to buiral?)

Side views of the corallum with each subsequent picture showing the side rotated 90 degrees from the prior picture.




A view of the bottom of the corallum

These specimens come from the Lousiville Limestone near Louisville, KY and are dated to the Silurian period (Homerian to Gorstian stage).

References: Stumm, E. C. (1964). Silurian and Devonian corals of the falls of the Ohio. New York: Geological Society of America.

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