Cladopora (Coenites) ordinata

These Middle Silurian Period corals are called Cladopora (Coenites) ordinata. They were found in Louisville, Kentucky in the Louisville Limestone. This specimen is described in Erwin Stumm's Silurian and Devonian Corals of the Falls of the Ohio on page 75 and in plate 69 figures 4,7,9,11, and 12. He describes it as, "Corallum typically dendroid, branching biserially, composed of corallites diverging radially from axes of stems and directed obliquely upward toward periphery. Stems 2-4 mm in diameter. Apertures sublunate, averaging about 0.5 mm in diameter and having prominent lower lip. Mural pores apparently absent."

This piece is rather large from what I normally find. The coral fragment is usually about the size of an American half dollar or quarter coin. This Coenites appears to be growing on a stromatoporoid or is it the other way around?

Horn Coral Siphonophrentis elongata

Usually, the fragments of one of the largest horn corals to grow in the Louisville Kentucky area are not as large as the one shown in these pictures. This coral piece is well over 30 cm. It is the largest coral species found to grow here with the largest reported at 1.5 m which they mostly only reached lengths up to 60 cm.

This one was found in Louisville, Kentucky in the Jeffersonville Limestone. Reading the Kentucky Geological Survey Special Bulletin 19, Series XI, 1993: Fossils Beds of the Falls of the Ohio by Stephen Greb, Richard Hendricks, and Donald Chesnut, it says, "They are common in the coral, Amphipora ramosa, Brevispirifer gregarius, and fenestrate bryozoan-brachiopod zones in the Jeffersonville Limestone."

Cryptolithus Drawing Version 2

Using Adobe Illustrator and then touching up with Adobe Photoshop I created a second version of yesterday's drawing. The thorax and pygidium have been redrawn. The right side of the lace collar was mirrored and the lines of the outer rim of the cephalon adjusted. Shading was added in an attempt to create depth for the cephalong and glabella.