Porites

Porites is a genus of stony coral; they are small polyp stony (SPS) corals. They are characterised by a finger-like morphology. Members of this genus have widely spaced calices, a well-developed wall reticulum and are bilaterally symmetrical. Porites, particularly Porites lutea, often form microatolls. Corals of the genus Porites also often serve as hosts for Christmas tree worms.

Porites

Louis Wray · 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
PoritidaePBDB
Diet
photosymbiotic, suspension feederPBDB, for Poritidae
Life habit
colonial, clonalPBDB, for Poritidae
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Poritidae
Vision
blindPBDB, for Anthozoa
Environment
marinePBDB, for Poritidae

Time the record covers

At least 55 million years on record.

The record covers at least 56 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 66 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 0 of 2005 occurrencesPaleocene — about 1 of 2005 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 22 of 2005 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 158 of 2005 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 593 of 2005 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 213 of 2005 occurrencesPleistocene — about 858 of 2005 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences61–58 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences58–56 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences52–49 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 1 occurrence47–45 Mya — about 1 occurrence45–43 Mya — about 1 occurrence43–40 Mya — about 2 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 4 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 5 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 6 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 15 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 15 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 23 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 60 occurrences25–22 Mya — about 65 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 78 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 59 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 62 occurrences16–13 Mya — about 82 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 67 occurrences11–9.0 Mya — about 48 occurrences9.0–6.7 Mya — about 74 occurrences6.7–4.5 Mya — about 160 occurrences4.5–2.2 Mya — about 197 occurrences2.2–0 Mya — about 975 occurrences56 Mya11.7 ka67 Mya0 Mya

2,005 occurrences of Porites 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

2,005 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

171 formations

Ironshore — 19.30°N, 81.30°WIronshore — 19.65°N, 80.10°WIronshore — 19.37°N, 81.37°WIronshore — 19.32°N, 81.37°WIronshore — 19.35°N, 81.08°WMoin — 9.97°N, 83.05°WMoin — 10.00°N, 83.03°WQuebrada Chocolate — 9.98°N, 83.08°WGurabo — 19.50°N, 71.18°WGurabo — 19.50°N, 71.28°WGurabo — 19.45°N, 71.07°WGurabo — 19.50°N, 70.80°WIsla Colon — 9.37°N, 82.23°WIsla Colon — 9.42°N, 82.32°WIsla Colon — 9.30°N, 82.10°WIsla Colon — 9.35°N, 82.17°WSeroe Domi — 12.10°N, 68.90°WSeroe Domi — 12.14°N, 68.99°WCulebra — 9.07°N, 79.68°WCulebra — 9.13°N, 79.62°WCulebra — 9.76°N, 79.68°WAntigua — 17.03°N, 61.68°WAntigua — 17.12°N, 61.85°WAntigua — 17.10°N, 61.70°WSan Luis — 12.50°N, 81.72°WSan Luis — 12.57°N, 81.72°WSobe — 26.39°N, 127.73°ECercado — 19.67°N, 71.40°WCercado — 19.53°N, 71.18°WCercado — 19.48°N, 71.27°WCercado — 19.45°N, 71.08°WSiamaná — 12.07°N, 71.44°WSiamaná — 12.03°N, 71.42°WSiamaná — 11.83°N, 71.40°WTamana — 10.47°N, 61.19°WTamana — 10.39°N, 61.29°WTamana — 10.33°N, 61.43°WTamana — 10.33°N, 62.42°WSalcedo — 45.77°N, 11.60°EAnguilla — 18.23°N, 63.07°WValiente — 9.13°N, 81.90°WValiente — 9.15°N, 81.94°WMao — 19.57°N, 71.27°WMao — 19.53°N, 71.18°WNaha — 26.12°N, 127.70°EKey Largo Limestone — 25.13°N, 80.38°WKey Largo Limestone — 24.93°N, 80.58°WOld Bank — 9.32°N, 82.11°WHato — 12.37°N, 69.10°WHato — 12.23°N, 69.02°WHato — 12.17°N, 68.88°WHato — 12.30°N, 69.13°WHato — 12.20°N, 69.08°WHato — 12.13°N, 68.98°WLower Coralline Limestone — 35.92°N, 14.42°ELower Coralline Limestone — 35.88°N, 14.48°ETokelau — 17.22°S, 178.97°WTokelau — 17.32°S, 178.99°WNabire — 3.60°S, 135.52°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Porites has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 147 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 942 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Porites and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Porites and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,526 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 666 sites for Porites, 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

387 references

Each of the 2,005 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. 375 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 Porites

Credit
Louis Wray
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Porites sp. · USyD:FOSSIL CORAL REEF CORE:MODERN PORITES CORAL

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 itPoritidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Link 1807