Goniastrea

Goniastrea is a genus of stony corals in the family Merulinidae. Species belonging to the genus Goniastrea forms massive colonies, usually spherical or elongate, with well developed paliform lobes. Polyps can be seen only at night.

Goniastrea

Hectonichus · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
MerulinidaePBDB
Diet
microcarnivore, photosymbioticPBDB, for Scleractinia
Life habit
intermediate-level epifaunal, colonial, clonalPBDB, for Scleractinia
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Scleractinia
Vision
blindPBDB, for Anthozoa
Environment
marinePBDB, for Scleractinia

Time the record covers

At least 65 million years on record.

The record covers at least 66 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 83.6 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 2 of 543 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 3 of 543 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 8 of 543 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 12 of 543 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 34 of 543 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 50 of 543 occurrencesPleistocene — about 366 of 543 occurrences85–82 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences82–80 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences80–77 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences77–74 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences74–71 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences71–68 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences68–65 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences63–60 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences60–57 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences57–54 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences48–45 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences43–40 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences40–37 Mya — about 1 occurrence37–34 Mya — about 4 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences31–28 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 5 occurrences26–23 Mya — about 7 occurrences23–20 Mya — about 5 occurrences20–17 Mya — about 11 occurrences17–14 Mya — about 7 occurrences14–11 Mya — about 4 occurrences11–8.5 Mya — about 3 occurrences8.5–5.7 Mya — about 4 occurrences5.7–2.8 Mya — about 44 occurrences2.8–0 Mya — about 440 occurrences66 Mya11.7 ka85 Mya0 Mya

543 occurrences of Goniastrea 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

543 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

53 formations

Nias — 1.12°N, 97.62°ENias — 1.03°N, 97.75°ENias — 0.97°N, 97.88°ENias — 1.35°N, 97.25°EBoat Cove — 29.28°S, 177.85°WBoat Cove — 29.22°S, 177.83°WBoat Cove — 29.23°S, 177.88°WChaya — 21.97°N, 70.50°EChaya — 22.42°N, 69.00°ERiukiu Limestone — 28.33°N, 130.00°ERiukiu Limestone — 24.45°N, 123.00°ERiukiu Limestone — 24.42°N, 124.17°ERiukiu Limestone — 24.05°N, 123.75°EEra Beds — 8.35°S, 146.28°ESobe — 26.39°N, 127.73°EFarasan — 16.75°N, 42.00°EAldabra Limestone — 9.42°S, 46.45°ESamadai — 25.00°N, 34.93°ESamadai — 26.10°N, 34.26°ESamadai — 25.15°N, 34.85°EMerizo — 13.23°N, 144.72°EGatuncillo — 9.25°N, 79.63°WQom — 31.50°N, 52.73°EQom — 34.64°N, 50.72°EQom — 29.31°N, 56.18°EUpper Kalibeng — 7.25°S, 110.67°EDayrell — 29.23°S, 177.82°WDayrell — 29.25°S, 177.82°WSalayar — 6.18°S, 120.43°ESalayar — 5.90°S, 120.50°EAntigua — 17.14°N, 61.82°WAntigua — 17.07°N, 61.70°WLa Quinta — 17.12°N, 92.88°WLa Quinta — 17.13°N, 92.68°WHateruma — 24.04°N, 123.79°EMoneague — 17.95°N, 77.38°WPakhna — 34.97°N, 34.07°ETermofourà — 45.07°N, 7.82°ERudeis — 29.12°N, 33.22°EYalam — 4.28°S, 151.83°EYalam — 4.47°S, 151.88°ERyukyu — 24.05°N, 123.78°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Goniastrea has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 29 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 416 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Goniastrea and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Goniastrea and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,031 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 138 sites for Goniastrea, 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

133 references

Each of the 543 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. 121 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 Goniastrea

Credit
Hectonichus
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
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 itMerulinidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Milne-Edwards and Haime 1848