Mussa

Mussa is a genus of stony coral in the family Faviidae. It is monotypic, being represented by the single species Mussa angulosa, commonly known as the spiny or large flower coral. It is found on reefs in shallow waters in the Caribbean Sea, the Bahamas and the Gulf of Mexico.

Mussa

NOAA - Frank and Joyce Burek · Public Domain · 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
MussinaePBDB
Diet
photosymbiotic, suspension feederPBDB, for Faviina
Life habit
colonial, clonalPBDB, for Faviina
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Faviina
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 56 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 35 occurrencesEocene — about 1 of 35 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 1 of 35 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 7 of 35 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 9 of 35 occurrencesPleistocene — about 14 of 35 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences11–9.5 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences9.5–7.6 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences7.6–5.7 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences5.7–3.8 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.8–1.9 Mya — about 9 occurrences1.9–0 Mya — about 14 occurrences33.9 Mya11.7 ka57 Mya0 Mya

35 occurrences of Mussa 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

35 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

14 formations

Moin — 9.97°N, 83.05°WMoin — 10.00°N, 83.03°WQuebrada Chocolate — 9.98°N, 83.08°WNias — 1.03°N, 97.75°ENias — 1.35°N, 97.25°EManchioneal — 18.18°N, 76.42°WRiukiu Limestone — 24.75°N, 125.33°EMoneague — 17.95°N, 77.38°WLirio — 18.08°N, 67.88°WTamiami — 26.14°N, 81.77°WPort Morant — 17.87°N, 76.32°WKey Largo Limestone/Miami Oolite — 24.67°N, 81.57°WIronshore — 19.38°N, 81.38°WGelingseh — 1.07°N, 117.80°EMao Adentro — 19.52°N, 70.83°WLowlands — 18.05°N, 63.13°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Mussa has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 13 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Mussa and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Mussa and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

322 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 27 sites for Mussa, 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

22 references

Each of the 35 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. 10 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 Mussa

Credit
NOAA - Frank and Joyce Burek
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Mussa 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 itMussinae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Oken 1815