Pocillopora

Pocillopora is a genus of stony corals in the family Pocilloporidae occurring in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. They are commonly called cauliflower corals and brush corals.

Pocillopora

Uncredited · 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
PocilloporidaePBDB
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 33 million years on record.

The record covers at least 33.9 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 358 occurrencesEocene — about 5 of 358 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 7 of 358 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 45 of 358 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 32 of 358 occurrencesPleistocene — about 207 of 358 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 2 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 2 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 1 occurrence32–30 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 1 occurrence27–25 Mya — about 2 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 2 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 9 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 5 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 4 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 4 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 3 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 3 occurrences11–9.5 Mya — about 5 occurrences9.5–7.6 Mya — about 5 occurrences7.6–5.7 Mya — about 5 occurrences5.7–3.8 Mya — about 17 occurrences3.8–1.9 Mya — about 22 occurrences1.9–0 Mya — about 263 occurrences33.9 Mya11.7 ka57 Mya0 Mya

358 occurrences of Pocillopora 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

358 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

39 formations

Discovery Point — 29.00°N, 118.27°WDiscovery Point — 28.99°N, 118.23°WDiscovery Point — 29.10°N, 118.25°WDiscovery Point — 28.88°N, 118.29°WDiscovery Point — 28.93°N, 118.23°WDiscovery Point — 29.07°N, 118.23°WMerizo — 13.23°N, 144.72°ENias — 1.12°N, 97.62°ENias — 1.03°N, 97.75°EHato — 12.28°N, 69.07°WHato — 12.37°N, 69.10°WHato — 12.17°N, 68.88°WCercado — 19.67°N, 71.40°WCercado — 19.48°N, 71.23°WIronshore — 19.37°N, 81.40°WIronshore — 19.28°N, 81.38°WEra Beds — 8.35°S, 146.28°ECulebra — 9.07°N, 79.68°WAldabra Limestone — 9.42°S, 46.45°EMoneague — 18.40°N, 77.37°WMoneague — 17.95°N, 77.38°WQuebrada Chocolate — 9.98°N, 83.08°WTamiami — 26.14°N, 81.77°WDayrell — 29.23°S, 177.82°WNaha — 26.08°N, 127.67°EWaimanalo — 21.35°N, 158.12°WWaimanalo — 21.57°N, 158.27°WGrand Bay — 12.50°N, 61.42°WGatuncillo — 9.25°N, 79.63°WTamana — 10.46°N, 61.24°WOld Pera — 17.87°N, 76.28°WPucangan — 7.23°S, 112.75°EUpper Kalibeng — 8.00°S, 114.00°ESondé — 8.00°S, 114.00°EHateruma — 24.04°N, 123.79°ERottnest Limestone — 32.00°S, 115.52°E

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The named rock units Pocillopora has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 15 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 266 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Pocillopora and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Pocillopora and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,110 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 143 sites for Pocillopora, 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

119 references

Each of the 358 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. 107 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 Pocillopora

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itPocilloporidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Lamarck 1816