_________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Kölner Forum Geol. P<strong>al</strong>äont., 19 (2011) M. ARETZ, S. DELCULÉE, J. DENAYER & E. POTY (Eds.) Abstracts, 11th Symposium on Fossil Cnidaria and Sponges, <strong>Liège</strong>, August 19-29, 2011 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 142 Coloni<strong>al</strong>ity in the rugose cor<strong>al</strong> family Geyerophyllidae MINATO 1955 Sergio RODRÍGUEZ 1 & E. Wayne BAMBER 2 1 Departamento y U.E.I. <strong>de</strong> P<strong>al</strong>eontología. Instituto <strong>de</strong> Geociencias <strong>de</strong> Madrid y Facultad <strong>de</strong> Ciencias Geológicas, CSIC-UCM, c/José Antonio Novais, 2, 28040 Madrid, Spain; sergrodr@geo.ucm.es 2 Geologic<strong>al</strong> Survey of Canada, 3303-33 rd St., C<strong>al</strong>gary, T2L 2A7, Canada; wabamber@nrcan.gc.ca The family Geyerophyllidae MINATO 1955 inclu<strong>de</strong>s cor<strong>al</strong>s having clinotabulae, lonsd<strong>al</strong>eoid dissepiments and a variably complex axi<strong>al</strong> structure formed as an extension of the cardin<strong>al</strong> septum. Within this family, MINATO & KATO (1975) inclu<strong>de</strong>d three genera origin<strong>al</strong>ly consi<strong>de</strong>red to have a coloni<strong>al</strong> (fasciculate) growth habit – Carinthiaphyllum HERITSCH 1936, Lonsd<strong>al</strong>eoi<strong>de</strong>s HERITSCH 1936 and Darwasophyllum PYZHYANOV 1964. More recent studies (e.g. FEDOROWSKI 1980) and a review of the type specimens of Carinthiaphyllum and Lonsd<strong>al</strong>eoi<strong>de</strong>s have shown them to be solitary cor<strong>al</strong>s with a gregarious growth habit, which is <strong>al</strong>so common in most other genera of the family (COCKE 1970; RODRÍGUEZ 1985). In its origin<strong>al</strong> <strong>de</strong>scription and in <strong>al</strong>l subsequent works, Darwasophyllum is consistently referred to as a fasciculate cor<strong>al</strong>, but the presence of offs<strong>et</strong>s has not been illustrated in the genus and a coloni<strong>al</strong> growth habit has not been clearly <strong>de</strong>monstrated. Specimens of Darwasophyllum from the Etherington Formation in Canada, collected near the Viséan-Serpukhovian boundary, were initi<strong>al</strong>ly regar<strong>de</strong>d as fasciculate colonies with long, sub-par<strong>al</strong>lel, closely spaced cor<strong>al</strong>lites. When they were studied in d<strong>et</strong>ail by means of seri<strong>al</strong> sections, however, these cor<strong>al</strong>s were found to be solitary individu<strong>al</strong>s grouped into gregaria, without shared structures or offs<strong>et</strong>s. Thus, true colonies are unknown in the Geyerophyllidae and <strong>al</strong>l genera <strong>de</strong>scribed as coloni<strong>al</strong> in that family consist of gregarious, solitary cor<strong>al</strong>s. COCKE, J.M. (1970): Dissepiment<strong>al</strong> rugose cor<strong>al</strong>s of Upper Pennsylvanian (Missourian) rocks of Kansas. - P<strong>al</strong>eontologic<strong>al</strong> contributions of the University of Kansas, 54: 1-67. FEDOROWSKI, J. (1980): Some aspects of coloni<strong>al</strong>ity in cor<strong>al</strong>s. – P<strong>al</strong>aeontology, 25 (3-4): 429-437. HERITSCH, F. (1936): Kor<strong>al</strong>len <strong>de</strong>r Moskauer-Gshel und Schwagerinen Stufe <strong>de</strong>r Karnischen Alpen. – P<strong>al</strong>aeontographica, 83: 99-162. MINATO, M. (1955): Japanese Carboniferous and Permian cor<strong>al</strong>s. - Journ<strong>al</strong> of the Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, 9(2): 1-202. MINATO, M. & KATO, M. (1975): Geyerophyllidae Minato, 1955. - Journ<strong>al</strong> of the Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Series 4, 17: 1-21. PYZHYANOV, I.V. (1966). Nekotorye predstaviteli Rugosa iz nizhne-permskikh otlozhenyi severnogo Pamira. - Trudy Upr. Geol. Tadzhikistan SSR, 2: 265-297. RODRÍGUEZ, S. (1985): The taxonomic status of the geyerophyllid cor<strong>al</strong>s. - Acta Geologica Polonica, 35 (3-4): 277-288.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Kölner Forum Geol. P<strong>al</strong>äont., 19 (2011) M. ARETZ, S. DELCULÉE, J. DENAYER & E. POTY (Eds.) Abstracts, 11th Symposium on Fossil Cnidaria and Sponges, <strong>Liège</strong>, August 19-29, 2011 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Fig. 1: Gregaria in Darwasophyllum sp. from the Etherington Formation. A- Group of individu<strong>al</strong>s growing tog<strong>et</strong>her. Note that the two cor<strong>al</strong>lites at the lower right seem to share structures. B- Close-up of figure A, showing stylolite (arrows), which produces the f<strong>al</strong>se impression of shared structures common to these neighbouring cor<strong>al</strong>lites. C- Numerous young cor<strong>al</strong>lites surrounding an adult cor<strong>al</strong>lite. None of them is an offs<strong>et</strong>, but sever<strong>al</strong> are attached to the w<strong>al</strong>l of the largest cor<strong>al</strong>lite. 143