Tabulata, commonly known as tabulate corals, are an order of

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

forms of

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...

. They are almost always

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

, forming colonies of individual

hexagon In geometry, a hexagon (from Ancient Greek, Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple polygon, simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°. Regular hexa ...

al cells known as corallites defined by a

skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of an animal. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside ...

calcite Calcite is a Carbonate minerals, carbonate mineral and the most stable Polymorphism (materials science), polymorph of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). It is a very common mineral, particularly as a component of limestone. Calcite defines hardness 3 on ...

, similar in appearance to a

honeycomb A honeycomb is a mass of Triangular prismatic honeycomb#Hexagonal prismatic honeycomb, hexagonal prismatic Beeswax, wax cells built by honey bees in their beehive, nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen. beekeeping, Beekee ...

. Adjacent cells are joined by small pores. Their distinguishing feature is their well-developed horizontal internal partitions (''tabulae'') within each cell, but reduced or absent vertical internal partitions ( ''septa''). They are usually smaller than

rugose Rugose means "wrinkled". It may refer to: * Rugosa, an extinct order of coral, whose rugose shape earned it the name * Rugose, adjectival form of rugae Species with "rugose" in their names * ''Idiosoma nigrum'', more commonly, a black rugose trap ...

corals, but vary considerably in shape, from flat to conical to spherical. Around 300 species have been described. Among the most common tabulate corals in the

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

record are ''

Aulopora ''Aulopora'' is an extinct genus of tabulate coral characterized by a bifurcated budding pattern and conical corallites. Colonies commonly encrust hard substrates such as rocks, shells and carbonate hardgrounds Carbonate hardgrounds are surfaces ...

'', ''

Favosites ''Favosites'' is an extinct genus of tabulate coral characterized by polygonal closely packed corallites (giving it the common name "honeycomb coral"). The walls between corallites are pierced by pores known as mural pores which allowed transfe ...

'', ''

Halysites ''Halysites'' (meaning ''chain coral'') is an extinct genus of tabulate coral. Colonies range from less than one to tens of centimeters in diameter, and they fed upon plankton. These tabulate corals lived from the Ordovician to the Devonian (f ...

'', ''

Heliolites ''Heliolites'' is a large and heterogenous genus of extinct tabulate corals in the family Heliolitidae. Specimens have been found in Ordovician to Devonian beds in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. The genus is particularly ab ...

'', ''

Pleurodictyum ''Pleurodictyum'' is an extinct genus of tabulate corals, characterized by polygonal corallites. Colonies commonly encrust hard substrates such as rocks, shells and carbonate hardgrounds. Distribution Fossils of ''Pleurodictyum'' have been f ...

'', ''Sarcinula'' and '' Syringopora''. Tabulate corals with massive skeletons often contain endobiotic symbionts, such as cornulitids and ''

Chaetosalpinx ''Chaetosalpinx'' is an ichnogenus of bioclaustrations (a type of trace fossil). ''Chaetosalpinx'' includes straight to sinuous cavities that are parallel to the host's axis of growth. The cavity is circular to oval in cross-section and it lacks ...

''. Like

rugose corals The rugosa, also called the tetracorallia or horn coral, are an extinct order of solitary and colonial corals that were abundant in Middle Ordovician to Late Permian seas. Solitary rugosans (e.g., '' Caninia'', '' Lophophyllidium'', '' Neoza ...

, they lived entirely during the

Paleozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...

, being found from the

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start ...

to the

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...

. With

Stromatoporoidea Stromatoporoidea is an extinct clade of sea sponges common in the fossil record from the Ordovician through the Devonian. They were especially abundant and important reef-formers in the Silurian and most of the Devonian.Stock, C.W. 2001, Stroma ...

and rugose corals, the tabulate corals are characteristic of the shallow waters of the

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozo ...

and

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...

. Sea levels rose in the Devonian, and tabulate corals became much less common. They finally became extinct in the

Permian–Triassic extinction event The Permian–Triassic (P–T, P–Tr) extinction event, also known as the Latest Permian extinction event, the End-Permian Extinction and colloquially as the Great Dying, formed the boundary between the Permian and Triassic geologic periods, as ...

Gallery

Image:HalysitesSilurian.jpg, ''Halysites'' sp. from the

of Ohio. View of colony surface. Image:Tabulate_coral_etched_section.jpg, Etched section of an

tabulate coral Image:AuloporaDevonianSilicaShale.jpg, ''Aulopora'' from the Silica Shale (Middle

) of northwestern Ohio. Image shows colony origin encrusting a

brachiopod Brachiopods (), phylum Brachiopoda, are a phylum of trochozoan animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear end, w ...

. Image:Rafinesquina ponderosa (Hall) ventral.JPG, The coral ''Protaraea richmondensis'' on the brachiopod ''Rafinesquina ponderosa'';

Whitewater Formation The Whitewater Formation is a geologic formation in Ohio and Indiana. It preserves fossils dating back to the Ordovician period.Waynesville Formation, Upper Ordovician, Caesar Creek, Ohio.

References

* Invertebrate Fossils; Moore, Lalicker, & Fischer; McGraw-Hill 1952. * Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology Part F, Coelenterata. Geological Society of America and Univ Kansas Press. R.C. Moore (ed). Hexacorallia Prehistoric animal orders Cnidarian orders {{permian-animal-stub