Acanthastrea

Acanthastrea is a genus of large polyp stony corals in the family Lobophylliidae. The colonies are massive and usually flat. The corallites are either circular or angular in shape. The septa are thick near the wall of the corallite, becoming thin near the columella, and have tall teeth. The polyps are extended only at night.

Acanthastrea

Philippe Bourjon · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
LobophylliidaePBDB
Diet
microcarnivore, photosymbioticPBDB, for Scleractinia
Life habit
intermediate-level epifaunal, colonial, clonalPBDB, for Scleractinia
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Scleractinia
Vision
blindPBDB, for Anthozoa
Environment
marinePBDB, for Scleractinia

Time the record covers

At least 23 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 27.3 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 1 of 101 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 51 of 101 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 6 of 101 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 38 of 101 occurrencesPleistocene28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 2 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 2 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 3 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 7 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 7 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 3 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 2 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 2 occurrences10–9.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences9.3–8.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.4–7.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.4–6.5 Mya — about 4 occurrences6.5–5.6 Mya — about 5 occurrences5.6–4.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences4.6–3.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.7–2.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.8–1.9 Mya — about 5 occurrences1.9–928 ka Mya — about 6 occurrences928 ka–0 Mya — about 33 occurrences23.04 Mya11.7 ka27.8 Mya0 Mya

101 occurrences of Acanthastrea on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

101 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

24 formations

Sobe — 26.39°N, 127.73°ETortonian Limestone — 35.00°N, 24.76°EGhasr Ghand — 26.50°N, 60.00°EYalam — 4.28°S, 151.83°ERudeis — 27.30°N, 33.58°ERudeis — 27.62°N, 33.37°EEra Beds — 8.35°S, 146.28°ENuma — 34.97°N, 139.83°ELeitha — 47.83°N, 16.48°EQom — 34.64°N, 50.72°EQom — 31.50°N, 52.73°ETermofourà — 45.07°N, 7.82°ENaha — 26.08°N, 127.67°EMerizo — 13.23°N, 144.72°ETokelau — 17.32°S, 178.99°WGashr Ghand — 26.02°N, 61.01°ESabz — 27.32°N, 57.12°EDarkhunish — 26.53°N, 57.58°ERiukiu Limestone — 28.33°N, 130.00°EPucangan — 7.23°S, 112.75°EAmbelouzos — 35.08°N, 24.96°EGelingseh — 1.07°N, 117.85°ESalayar — 6.08°S, 120.48°EUpper Coralline Limestone — 35.93°N, 14.33°EMut — 36.83°N, 33.47°ELeitha Limestone — 47.83°N, 16.48°E

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The named rock units Acanthastrea has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 47 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Acanthastrea and its relatives

Miocene

Where Acanthastrea and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

773 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 50 sites for Acanthastrea, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

39 references

Each of the 101 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 27 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Acanthastrea

Credit
Philippe Bourjon
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Acanthastrea was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itLobophylliidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Milne-Edwards and Haime 1848