Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Favosites Corals


Kentucky coral fossils found in Louisville (Jefferson County).   These corals are from the Devonian Period.  This first coral appears to be some sort of Favosites.  Named by J.B. Lamarck in 1816 in Histoire naturelle des animaux sans vertebre.


I went looking for a coral called Pleurodictyum and found this specimen.  It is two different corals: the bottom one is Favosites turbinatus (knee cap coral) and the coral growing on top of it might be a Pleurodictyum or Favosites hamiltoniae.  These corals are found in the Beechwood and Jeffersonville Limestones.



 


Here are three specimens I pulled from the cleaning rack.  The one the far left is the one shown above.  It is appears to be two different corals.  The middle specimen is some sort of Favosites and the right side coral appears to be Favosites "Emmonsia" tuberosa.
 

2 comments:

Dark Slander said...

Great report, I have some Coral specimens from the Louisville area. Including a section of inner gill slits which is huge by comparison to other corals I found in the area.

I've been told that there is one bigger horn coral which is found in that area, and that's probably it. Although the species name alludes me still.

Michael Popp said...

Thanks.

It is probably a Siphonophrentis elongata which can reach over 60 cm in length. If you search for that term on this blog some of my past entries will show examples.

That horn coral is a fun one to find but I usually only find fragments. There are some nice large examples at the Falls of the Ohio State Park across from downtown Louisville.