Cyphastrea

Cyphastrea is a genus of massive reef building stony corals in the family Merulinidae, commonly known as brain coral.

Cyphastrea

Philippe Bourjon · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
MerulinidaePBDB
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 33 million years on record.

The record covers at least 33.9 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 37.71 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 2 of 338 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 1 of 338 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 72 of 338 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 48 of 338 occurrencesPleistocene — about 185 of 338 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences26–24 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 3 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 3 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 7 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 8 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 9 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 7 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 5 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 5 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 5 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 4 occurrences10–9.0 Mya — about 4 occurrences9.0–7.7 Mya — about 4 occurrences7.7–6.4 Mya — about 4 occurrences6.4–5.1 Mya — about 6 occurrences5.1–3.8 Mya — about 18 occurrences3.8–2.6 Mya — about 27 occurrences2.6–1.3 Mya — about 38 occurrences1.3–0 Mya — about 178 occurrences33.9 Mya11.7 ka38.5 Mya0 Mya

338 occurrences of Cyphastrea on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

338 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

40 formations

Nias — 1.12°N, 97.62°ENias — 1.03°N, 97.75°ENias — 0.87°N, 97.68°ENias — 0.85°N, 97.87°ENias — 0.80°N, 97.77°ENias — 1.35°N, 97.25°EBoat Cove — 29.28°S, 177.85°WBoat Cove — 29.22°S, 177.83°WBoat Cove — 29.23°S, 177.88°WSobe — 26.39°N, 127.73°EYalam — 4.28°S, 151.83°EYalam — 4.47°S, 151.88°ENaha — 26.12°N, 127.70°ESamadai — 25.00°N, 34.93°ESamadai — 26.10°N, 34.26°ESamadai — 25.15°N, 34.85°ETokelau — 17.22°S, 178.97°WTokelau — 17.32°S, 178.99°WProgo Beds — 7.65°S, 110.05°ERiukiu Limestone — 28.33°N, 130.00°ERiukiu Limestone — 24.75°N, 125.33°ERiukiu Limestone — 24.45°N, 123.00°EEra Beds — 8.35°S, 146.28°EDayrell — 29.23°S, 177.82°WDayrell — 29.25°S, 177.82°WNuma — 34.97°N, 139.83°EGelingseh — 1.07°N, 117.85°ESalayar — 5.90°S, 120.50°EGhasr Ghand — 26.50°N, 60.00°ERiukiu limestone — 23.00°N, 122.00°ERyukyu — 24.05°N, 123.78°ETogopi — 5.25°N, 119.20°ENabire — 3.60°S, 135.52°EChaya — 22.42°N, 69.00°EGashr Ghand — 26.02°N, 61.01°EDarkhunish — 26.53°N, 57.58°ERyukyu Limestone — 24.50°N, 124.26°EPucangan — 7.23°S, 112.75°E

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The named rock units Cyphastrea has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 16 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 210 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cyphastrea and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Cyphastrea and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

827 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 95 sites for Cyphastrea, 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

98 references

Each of the 338 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. 86 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 Cyphastrea

Credit
Philippe Bourjon
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Cyphastrea 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 itMerulinidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

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