Favia

Searched as Favia pallida doreyensis. The Paleobiology Database treats Favia as the accepted name.

Favia is a genus of reef-building stony corals in the family Mussidae. Members of the genus are massive or thickly encrusting colonial corals, either dome-shaped or flat, and a few are foliaceous. There is a great diversity of form even among individuals of the same species. The corallites project slightly above the surface of the coral and each has its own wall. In most species, the corallites are plocoid and in some, monocentric. The septa and costae linked to the corallite wall are well developed and covered by fine teeth. The polyps only extend and feed during the night. Each one has a small number of tapering tentacles which often have a darker coloured tip; these are called stinger tentacles, or sweeper tentacles. They use these to sweep the water to see if any other coral is in its area; if so, then they begin to sting the other coral. This is commonly known as coral war. Each coral is trying to make sure it has enough room around it so it can continue to grow and have more surface area for its offspring. The columella is parietal and spongy, and there are vesicles on both the endotheca and exotheca. Members of this genus are widespread in both the Atlantic Ocean and the Indo-Pacific.

Favia

Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
FaviidaePBDB
Diet
photosymbiotic, microcarnivorePBDB, for Faviidae
Life habit
low-level epifaunalPBDB, for Faviidae
Motility
stationaryPBDB, for Faviidae
Vision
blindPBDB, for Anthozoa
Environment
marinePBDB, for Scleractinia

Time the record covers

At most 2.8 million years on record.

The one occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 5.333 Mya and 2.58 Mya, which is a dating window rather than a span.

Miocene — about 0 of 1 occurrencePliocene — about 1 of 1 occurrencePliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 1 occurrence5.3–5.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.2–5.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.1–5.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.0–4.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.8–4.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.7–4.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.6–4.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.3–4.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.2–4.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.1–4.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.0–3.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.8–3.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.7–3.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.6–3.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.3–3.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.2–3.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.1–3.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.0–2.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.8–2.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.7–2.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.83 Mya2.08 Mya

1 occurrence of Favia on record, most of them in the Pliocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. 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 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.

Favia and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Favia and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

1,501 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 171 sites for Favia, 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

1 reference

Each of the 1 occurrence 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. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Favia

Credit
Diego Delso
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
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 itFaviidae through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

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