Acropora

Acropora is a genus of small polyp stony coral in the phylum Cnidaria. Some of its species are known as table coral, elkhorn coral, and staghorn coral. Over 149 species are described. Acropora species are some of the major reef corals responsible for building the immense calcium carbonate substructure that supports the thin living skin of a reef.

Acropora

Albert Kok at Dutch Wikipedia ( Original text: Albert Kok ) · 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
AcroporidaePBDB
Diet
photosymbiotic, suspension feederPBDB, for Acroporidae
Life habit
colonial, clonalPBDB, for Acroporidae
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Scleractinia
Vision
blindPBDB, for Anthozoa
Environment
marinePBDB, for Scleractinia

Time the record covers

At least 72 million years on record.

The record covers at least 72.2 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 143.1 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Jurassic — about 0 of 1676 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 1 of 1676 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 1 of 1676 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 15 of 1676 occurrencesEocene — about 35 of 1676 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 106 of 1676 occurrencesMiocene — about 214 of 1676 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 117 of 1676 occurrencesPleistocene — about 993 of 1676 occurrences146–141 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences141–136 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences136–131 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences131–127 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences127–122 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences122–117 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences117–112 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences112–107 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences107–102 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences102–97 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences97–92 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences92–88 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences88–83 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences83–78 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences78–73 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences73–68 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences68–63 Mya — about 8 occurrences63–58 Mya — about 6 occurrences58–54 Mya — about 3 occurrences54–49 Mya — about 2 occurrences49–44 Mya — about 3 occurrences44–39 Mya — about 8 occurrences39–34 Mya — about 20 occurrences34–29 Mya — about 29 occurrences29–24 Mya — about 57 occurrences24–19 Mya — about 71 occurrences19–15 Mya — about 56 occurrences15–9.7 Mya — about 50 occurrences9.7–4.9 Mya — about 69 occurrences4.9–0 Mya — about 1291 occurrences72.2 Mya11.7 ka146 Mya0 Mya

1,676 occurrences of Acropora 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

1,676 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

124 formations

Hato — 12.28°N, 69.07°WHato — 12.37°N, 69.10°WHato — 12.23°N, 69.02°WHato — 12.17°N, 68.88°WHato — 12.20°N, 69.08°WHato — 12.13°N, 68.98°WSan Luis — 12.50°N, 81.72°WSan Luis — 12.57°N, 81.72°WSeroe Domi — 12.10°N, 68.90°WSeroe Domi — 12.15°N, 69.00°WIronshore — 19.65°N, 80.10°WIronshore — 19.27°N, 81.37°WIronshore — 19.35°N, 81.37°WIronshore — 19.35°N, 81.08°WIronshore — 19.28°N, 81.15°WIsla Colon — 9.42°N, 82.32°WIsla Colon — 9.35°N, 82.17°WQuebrada Chocolate — 9.98°N, 83.08°WMoin — 9.97°N, 83.05°WMoin — 10.00°N, 83.03°WLower Coralline Limestone — 35.93°N, 14.44°ELower Coralline Limestone — 35.83°N, 14.44°ELower Coralline Limestone — 35.88°N, 14.48°ESobe — 26.39°N, 127.73°EUrraca — 9.45°N, 82.30°WUrraca — 9.43°N, 82.32°WUrraca — 9.38°N, 82.24°WCulebra — 9.07°N, 79.68°WCulebra — 9.13°N, 79.62°WCulebra — 9.18°N, 79.78°WSalcedo — 45.77°N, 11.60°EAldabra Limestone — 9.42°S, 46.45°EMerizo — 13.23°N, 144.72°EAntigua — 17.12°N, 61.85°WAntigua — 17.05°N, 61.73°WAntigua — 17.07°N, 61.73°WPort Morant — 17.87°N, 76.32°WNias — 1.12°N, 97.62°ENias — 1.03°N, 97.75°ENias — 0.95°N, 97.78°EMoneague — 18.40°N, 77.37°WMoneague — 17.95°N, 77.38°WChaya — 21.97°N, 70.50°EChaya — 23.33°N, 71.93°EChaya — 22.42°N, 69.00°ENaha — 26.41°N, 127.74°ENaha — 26.12°N, 127.70°EOld Bank — 9.32°N, 82.11°WGornji Grad — 46.28°N, 14.82°EGornji Grad — 46.33°N, 14.72°EGornji Grad — 46.38°N, 14.75°ESiamaná — 12.07°N, 71.44°WManchioneal — 18.19°N, 76.43°W

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The named rock units Acropora has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 100 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 1,134 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Acropora and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Acropora and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,704 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 389 sites for Acropora, and this reads 240 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

285 references

Each of the 1,676 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. 273 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 Acropora

Credit
Albert Kok at Dutch Wikipedia ( Original text: Albert Kok )
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

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 itAcroporidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

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