Acta Palaeontologica Polonica

Coral growth in Oligophylloides pachylhecus Różkowska, 1969

Tomasz Wrzołek

Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 25 (3-4), 1980: 513-517

Coral growth in Heterocorallia is described and illustrated for the first time. It has been studied in Oligophyltoides pachythecus Różkowska, 1969 from the Upper Famer,nian of the Swlf;tokrzyskie (Holy Cross) Mountains, Poland. One single offset at a time was formed laterally with respect to the parent polyp. It did not inherit any, septa from the parent corallite forming its own, independent set of septa. The young polyp' was for a long time connected with the parent by soft tissue being separated from its skeleton by a tabulotheca. The theca and possibly all the other skeletal elements of the species studied grew centrifugally. Evidence is presented that O. pachythecus had a distal part of itscorallite in the shape of a slender distal cone with a set of septa protrUding on top of the cone.

Key words: Corals, Heterocorallia, coral growth, Devonian, Poland.


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