Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

Journal of Paleontology

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by WANG, X.-D. Articles by ZHANG, F. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

INTRASPECIFIC VARIATION IN A NEW SOLITARY RUGOSE CORAL, COMMUTIA EXOLETA, FROM THE LOWER CARBONIFEROUS OF THE BAOSHAN BLOCK, SOUTHWEST CHINA

¹ Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, People's Republic of China, <xdwang{at}nigpas.ac.cn>
² Department of Earth System Science, Fukuoka University, Fukuoka 814–0180, Japan, <sugiyama{at}fukuoka-u.ac.jp>

Based on 137 specimens examined, the new species Commutia exoleta is characterized by a small, slightly scolecoid shape with 21 septa at a mean maximum corallite diameter of 6 mm (range 3 to 10.5 mm); a persistent inner wall, which encloses an aulos with a mean maximum diameter of 1.2 mm, formed during an early ontogenetic stage when the axial ends of the cardinal, alar and counter-lateral septa fused; short counter septa are lacking in the earliest stage of development.

Corallites are highly variable. Characters exhibiting a wide range of variation are: size and shape of corallites, number of septa, diameter of aulos and the timing of its appearance, number of septa connected to the inner wall, and the septal arrangement in each growth quadrant. Combinations of these variable characters result in corallites that are each uniquely different. Variations of those characters are partly due to stressed environments, such as unstable, muddy substrates resulting in corallite rejuvenescence and redirection.