Favosites

Favosites Temporal range: Late Ordovician-Late Permian 456.1–265 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Favosites sp. from the Upper Ordovician of southern Indiana
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Cnidaria
Class:	†Tabulata
Family:	†Favositidae
Genus:	†Favosites Lamarck 1816
Type species
F. gothlandicus
Species
See text

Stereo image
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More polished Favosites fossil.

Favosites is an extinct genus of tabulate coral characterized by polygonal closely packed corallites (giving it the common name "honeycomb coral").^[1] The walls between corallites are pierced by pores known as mural pores which allowed transfer of nutrients between polyps. Favosites, like many corals, thrived in warm sunlit seas, feeding by filtering microscopic plankton with their stinging tentacles and often forming part of reef complexes.^[2] The genus had a worldwide distribution from the Late Ordovician to Late Permian.^[3]

Distribution

Favosites had a vast distribution, and its fossils can be found on every continent (except Antarctica).^[3]

Species

The following species of Favosites have been described:^[3]

• F. abnormis
• F. adaverensis
• F. afghanicus
• F. antiquus
• F. bowerbanki
• F. burkhanensis
• F. desolatus
• F. exilis
• F. fallax
• F. favosiformis
• F. favosus
• F. fusiforme
• F. goldfussi (Lecompte, 1939), from the Emsian, Eifelian and Givetian of the Holy Cross Mountains,^[4][5] is known to be parasitized by Chaetosalpinx.^[5]
• F. gothlandicus
• F. hisingeri
• F. ingens
• F. intricatus
• F. issensis
• F. jaaniensis
• F. kalevi
• F. lichenarioides
• F. mirandus
• F. multicarinatus
• F. oculiporoides
• F. permica
• F. petropolitana
• F. praemaximus
• F. privatus
• F. serratus
• F. sphaericus (Počta, 1902) from the lower Blue Fiord and Disappointment Bay formations of Devonian Canada.^[6]
• F. subfavosus
• F. subforbesi

Gallery

• 
  Sagittal cross-section of Favosites, showing communication pores between the corallites.
  Upper Ordovician of southern Indiana
• 
  Favosites goldfussi fossil at Natural History Museum, Wiesbaden

References

1. Boardman, R.S. (1987). Fossil Invertebrates. Blackwell. p. 714.
2. Feldman, R.M.; Hackathorn (1996). Fossils of Ohio. Ohio Division of Geological Survey Bulletin 70. p. 577.
3. Favosites at Fossilworks.org
4. Zapalski, Mikołaj K.; Król, Jan J.; Halamski, Adam T.; Wrzołek, Tomasz; Rakociński, Michał; Baird, Andrew H. (2022-01-01). "Coralliths of tabulate corals from the Devonian of the Holy Cross Mountains (Poland)". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 585: 110745. Bibcode:2022PPP...58510745Z. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110745. ISSN 0031-0182. S2CID 243474351.
5. Zapalski, M. K. (2009-01-01). "Parasites in Emsian–Eifelian Favosites (Anthozoa, Tabulata) from the Holy Cross Mountains (Poland): changes of distribution within colony". Geological Society, London, Special Publications. 314 (1): 125–129. Bibcode:2009GSLSP.314..125Z. doi:10.1144/SP314.6. S2CID 85878146.
6. Prosh, Eric (1989-01-01). "A Lower Devonian Reef Sequence And Fauna, Disappointment Bay Formation, Canadian Arctic Islands". Digitized Theses.