Eusmilia fastigiata

Eusmilia is a genus of stony coral in the family Meandrinidae. It is a monotypic genus represented by the species Eusmilia fastigiata, commonly known as the smooth flower coral. It is found on reefs in the Caribbean Sea.

Eusmilia fastigiata

Photographer: Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Staff · 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
EusmiliaPBDB
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 23 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 27.3 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 2 of 45 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 0 of 45 occurrencesPliocene — about 1 of 45 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 34 of 45 occurrencesPleistocene28–27 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.6–4.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.6–3.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.7–2.8 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.8–1.9 Mya — about 8 occurrences1.9–928 ka Mya — about 9 occurrences928 ka–0 Mya — about 25 occurrences23.04 Mya11.7 ka27.8 Mya0 Mya

45 occurrences of Eusmilia fastigiata 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

45 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

11 formations

Ironshore — 19.37°N, 81.37°WIronshore — 19.28°N, 81.33°WMoin — 9.97°N, 83.05°WMoin — 10.00°N, 83.03°WIsla Colon — 9.41°N, 82.31°WUrraca — 9.43°N, 82.32°WUrraca — 9.45°N, 82.30°WManchioneal — 18.19°N, 76.43°WOld Pera — 17.87°N, 76.28°WPort Morant — 17.87°N, 76.32°WKey Largo Limestone/Miami Oolite — 24.67°N, 81.57°WAmbergris Cay Limestone — 18.00°N, 87.90°WSan Luis — 12.50°N, 81.72°WMount Hope — 9.33°N, 79.90°W

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The named rock units Eusmilia fastigiata has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 17 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Eusmilia fastigiata and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Eusmilia fastigiata and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

192 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 18 sites for Eusmilia fastigiata, 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

20 references

Each of the 45 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. 8 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 Eusmilia fastigiata

Credit
Photographer: Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Staff
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 was 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 itEusmilia through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Pallas 1766)