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Journal of Paleontology Journal of Paleontology

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Mississippian Rugose Corals from Alabama: A Review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 October 2015

Sergio Rodríguez  and
David C. Kopaska-Merkel
Sergio Rodríguez
Affiliation:
Instituto de Geociencias (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas), Dpto. de Paleontología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid c/ José Antonio Novais 2, 28040-Madrid, Spain, <sergrodr@geo.ucm.es>
David C. Kopaska-Merkel
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Alabama, Box 869999, Tuscaloosa, AL 35486, USA, <davidkm@gsa.state.al.us>
Corresponding
E-mail address:
sergrodr@geo.ucm.es
davidkm@gsa.state.al.us
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Abstract

The Mississippian rugose corals from Alabama housed in several museums in that state are revised on the basis of current knowledge of this subclass. Fifteen species belonging to 10 genera have been identified; three species are new, including Zaphrentites lacefieldi, Palastraea cullmanense, and Siphonophyllia alabamaense. Four coral assemblages characterize four stratigraphic subdivisions of the Mississippian in Alabama: Osagean, Meramecian, lower Chesterian, and upper Chesterian. Corals are abundant in some units but diversity is quite low in all assemblages. The level of endemism is very high, except for the lower Chesterian assemblage, which contains some western Paleotethyan forms. Two possible coral evolutionary lineages have been identified.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 88 , Issue 5 , September 2014 , pp. 829 - 850
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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