Hexagonaria
Hexagonaria is a genus of colonial rugose coral. Fossils are found in rock formations dating to the Devonian period, about 350 million years ago. Specimens of Hexagonaria can be found in most of the rock formations of the Traverse Group in Michigan. Fossils of this genus form Petoskey stones, the state stone of Michigan. They can be seen and found in most Midwestern U.S. states.
Wilson44691 · CC0 · 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
- HexagonariinaePBDB
- Diet
- suspension feederPBDB, for Rugosa
- Life habit
- epifaunalPBDB, for Rugosa
- Motility
- stationary, attachedPBDB, for Rugosa
- Vision
- blindPBDB, for Anthozoa
- Environment
- marinePBDB, for Rugosa
Time the record covers
At least 44 million years on record.
The record covers at least 419.62 Mya to 375.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 443.1 Mya to 358.86 Mya.
215 occurrences of Hexagonaria on record, most of them in the Devonian. 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
215 occurrencesThese 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
72 formations
- Silica Formation28
- Kowala Formation · Set A Group12
- Martin Formation10
- Lazhuglung Formation9
- Jeffersonville Limestone Formation8
- Ferques Formation7
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The named rock units Hexagonaria has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 48 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 22 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.
Hexagonaria and its relatives
DevonianWhere Hexagonaria and its relatives were recorded in the Devonian.
Found in the same rock
697 taxa- Thamnopora46 sites
- Disphyllum38 sites
- Alveolites32 sites
- Favosites30 sites
- Aulopora22 sites
- Phillipsastrea22 sites
- Tabulophyllum22 sites
- Crinoidea19 sites
- Peneckiella16 sites
- Thamnophyllum16 sites
- Macgeea15 sites
- Amphipora14 sites
- Cystiphylloides14 sites
- Atrypa13 sites
- Cladopora13 sites
- Aulocystis12 sites
- Stachyodes12 sites
- Stromatopora12 sites
- Cyrtospirifer11 sites
- Emmonsia11 sites
- Schizophoria11 sites
- Bryozoa10 sites
- Megastrophia10 sites
- Rugosa10 sites
The Paleobiology Database records 115 sites for Hexagonaria, 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
66 references- Strata and megafossils of the Middle Devonian Silica Formation28
- The distribution of rugose corals in Frasnian outcrop sequences of North America21
- Phénomènes récifaux dans le Dévonien d'Afghanistan (Montagnes Centrales) - Analyse et systématique des Stromatopores15
- Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian corals of Alaska13
- Rugose corals from the Devonian Kowala Formation of the Holy Cross Mountains10
- Middle Devonian (Givetian) coral-stromatoporoid patch reefs from the Lazhuglung Formation, Xizang (Tibet) and their palaeoecological and palaeogeographical implications9
- Rugueux givetiens et frasniens de Ferques (Boulonnais-France)7
- A Faunal Analysis of the Devonian Martin Formation in the Verde Valley, Arizona7
- Rzhonsnitskaya, 19687
- Silurian and Devonian Corals of the Falls of the Ohio7
- Frasnian Carbonate Buildups of southern Belgium: The Arche and Lion Members interpreted as Atolls6
- Paleocommunity Replacements of Benthic Brachiopod in the Middle - Upper Devonian in the Longmenshan Area, Southwestern China: Responses to Sea Level Fluctuations4
Each of the 215 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. 54 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 content2
Picture of Hexagonaria
- Source
- Wikipedia/Commons
- Credit
- Wilson44691
- Licence
- CC0
- Commercial use
- the licence allows it
3D model
- Source
- Sketchfab
- Licence
- CC Attribution
- Commercial use
- cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
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
- Source
- Wikipedia, “Hexagonaria”
- 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 itHexagonariinae through timeFormations of the DevonianThe world it lived on
Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gürich 1896