Zaphriphyllum
Extinct genus of coral
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zaphriphyllum is an extinct genus of horn coral belonging to the suborder Stariidae and family Ekvasophyllidae.[2] Specimens have been found in Mississippian beds in North America[3] and Turkey.[4] It is the characteristic coral of the Kelly Limestone of New Mexico, US.[3]
| Zaphriphyllum | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Cnidaria |
| Subphylum: | Anthozoa |
| Class: | †Rugosa |
| Order: | †Stauriida |
| Family: | †Ekvasophyllidae |
| Genus: | †Zaphriphyllum Sutherland 1954[1] |
| Species | |
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See text | |
Original description
Sutherland first described it in 1954 from a rock containing a fauna of the Middle Mississippian age in the Northern territory of Canada.[3] Sutherland proposed the genus Zaphriphyllum for those zaphrentids which still possess a trochoid shape and pronounced cardinal fossula and consistently have dissepiments. These forms usually also show a tendency toward a radial arrangement of the septa in the immediate area of the cardinal fossula. Zaphriphyllum closely resembles Amplexizaphrentis Vaughan; except that, as Sutherland (personal communication) has pointed out, the latter is characterized by the absence, or very sparse and discontinuous development, of dissepiments.[citation needed]