Stromatoporoidea

Stromatoporoidea is an extinct clade of sea sponges common in the fossil record from the Middle Ordovician to the Late Devonian. They can be characterized by their densely layered calcite skeletons lacking spicules. Stromatoporoids were among the most abundant and important reef-builders of their time, living close together in flat biostromes or elevated bioherms on soft tropical carbonate platforms.

Stromatoporoidea

Wilson44691 · 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
Also called
stromatoporoid spongePBDB
Sits inside
PoriferaPBDB
Diet
suspension feeder, photosymbioticPBDB
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB
Vision
blindPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 322 million years on record.

The record covers at least 477.1 Mya to 154.8 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 486.85 Mya to 149.2 Mya.

Cambrian — about 0 of 5066 occurrencesOrdovician — about 680 of 5066 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 1283 of 5066 occurrencesDevonian — about 3078 of 5066 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 2 of 5066 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 4 of 5066 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 5066 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 1 of 5066 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 15 of 5066 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 5066 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 1 of 5066 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 2 of 5066 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 0 of 5066 occurrences494–482 Mya — about 1 occurrence482–470 Mya — about 9 occurrences470–458 Mya — about 61 occurrences458–447 Mya — about 415 occurrences447–435 Mya — about 699 occurrences435–423 Mya — about 642 occurrences423–412 Mya — about 422 occurrences412–400 Mya — about 305 occurrences400–388 Mya — about 418 occurrences388–377 Mya — about 1631 occurrences377–365 Mya — about 413 occurrences365–353 Mya — about 26 occurrences341–330 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences330–318 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences318–306 Mya — about 1 occurrence259–248 Mya — about 4 occurrences248–236 Mya — about 3 occurrences236–224 Mya — about 9 occurrences224–213 Mya — about 1 occurrence213–201 Mya — about 2 occurrences166–154 Mya — about 2 occurrences154–142 Mya — about 1 occurrence477.1 Mya154.8 Mya494 Mya142 Mya

5,066 occurrences of Stromatoporoidea on record, most of them in the Devonian. 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

5,066 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

509 formations

Blacourt — 50.83°N, 1.77°EKowala — 50.83°N, 20.37°EKowala — 50.82°N, 20.58°EKowala — 50.80°N, 20.47°EKowala — 50.73°N, 20.45°EKowala — 50.87°N, 20.48°EKowala — 50.83°N, 20.67°EKowala — 50.63°N, 21.37°EJupiter — 49.13°N, 61.67°WJupiter — 49.22°N, 62.40°WJupiter — 49.27°N, 62.37°WJupiter — 49.50°N, 63.32°WJupiter — 49.23°N, 62.67°WJupiter — 49.13°N, 62.35°WJupiter — 49.20°N, 61.73°WJupiter — 49.25°N, 62.33°WJupiter — 49.37°N, 62.08°WJupiter — 49.10°N, 62.38°WJupiter — 49.22°N, 62.48°WJupiter — 49.15°N, 62.20°WJupiter — 49.07°N, 62.05°WJupiter — 49.28°N, 62.10°WJupiter — 49.37°N, 63.37°WJupiter — 49.32°N, 63.22°WJupiter — 49.33°N, 62.82°WJupiter — 49.07°N, 61.77°WJupiter — 49.35°N, 63.42°WJupiter — 49.35°N, 63.25°WJupiter — 49.35°N, 62.98°WJupiter — 49.23°N, 63.03°WJupiter — 49.27°N, 62.15°WVilemovice — 49.30°N, 16.75°EVilemovice — 49.33°N, 16.73°EVilemovice — 49.20°N, 16.70°ESanta Lucia — 42.97°N, 6.20°WSanta Lucia — 42.87°N, 5.28°WSanta Lucia — 42.87°N, 5.42°WSanta Lucia — 42.88°N, 5.10°WSanta Lucia — 42.84°N, 5.65°WBrilon Massenkalk — 51.45°N, 8.63°EBrilon Massenkalk — 51.42°N, 8.58°EBlue Fiord — 76.30°N, 99.00°WBlue Fiord — 77.33°N, 86.77°WBlue Fiord — 77.33°N, 86.69°WBlue Fiord — 77.33°N, 86.61°WBlue Fiord — 77.24°N, 86.32°WBlue Fiord — 77.29°N, 85.76°WBlue Fiord — 77.25°N, 85.85°WBlue Fiord — 77.24°N, 85.86°WBlue Fiord — 77.28°N, 86.02°WBlue Fiord — 77.28°N, 86.12°WBlue Fiord — 77.29°N, 85.16°WBlue Fiord — 77.29°N, 85.14°WBlue Fiord — 77.46°N, 83.75°WBlue Fiord — 77.49°N, 83.90°WBlue Fiord — 77.74°N, 83.48°WBlue Fiord — 77.58°N, 83.71°WBlue Fiord — 76.61°N, 88.48°WBlue Fiord — 76.63°N, 87.65°WEllis Bay — 49.82°N, 64.35°WEllis Bay — 49.42°N, 62.25°WEllis Bay — 49.50°N, 63.00°WEllis Bay — 49.62°N, 62.58°WEllis Bay — 49.33°N, 61.97°WEllis Bay — 49.32°N, 61.83°WEllis Bay — 49.80°N, 64.40°WEllis Bay — 49.45°N, 62.30°WEllis Bay — 49.33°N, 61.88°WEllis Bay — 49.37°N, 62.18°WEllis Bay — 49.50°N, 62.53°WEllis Bay — 49.72°N, 63.83°WEllis Bay — 49.52°N, 62.42°WTamsalu — 58.93°N, 23.75°ETamsalu — 58.39°N, 24.50°ETamsalu — 58.31°N, 24.90°ETamsalu — 58.23°N, 25.31°ETamsalu — 58.91°N, 23.47°ETamsalu — 58.87°N, 22.97°ETamsalu — 58.79°N, 22.83°ETamsalu — 59.14°N, 26.13°ETamsalu — 58.91°N, 23.43°ETamsalu — 58.84°N, 23.06°ETamsalu — 59.16°N, 26.09°ETamsalu — 59.05°N, 24.45°ETamsalu — 58.99°N, 26.35°ETamsalu — 58.68°N, 26.09°EKoneprusy — 49.92°N, 14.07°ECairn — 51.08°N, 115.35°WCairn — 53.18°N, 118.28°WCairn — 51.90°N, 115.93°WCairn — 50.75°N, 115.08°WCairn — 52.30°N, 116.65°WCairn — 52.07°N, 116.12°WCairn — 52.50°N, 117.02°WCairn — 51.62°N, 115.43°WCairn — 52.37°N, 116.87°WMacocha — 49.23°N, 16.76°EManlius — 42.99°N, 75.13°WManlius — 41.88°N, 74.05°WManlius — 41.97°N, 73.95°WManlius — 42.48°N, 73.82°WManlius — 42.64°N, 74.00°WManlius — 42.70°N, 74.15°WManlius — 42.63°N, 74.20°WManlius — 42.77°N, 74.53°WManlius — 42.91°N, 74.88°WManlius — 42.90°N, 74.96°WManlius — 42.78°N, 75.04°WManlius — 42.94°N, 75.13°WManlius — 43.00°N, 75.36°WManlius — 42.99°N, 75.52°WManlius — 42.94°N, 76.16°WManlius — 42.98°N, 75.57°WManlius — 43.03°N, 75.75°WManlius — 43.01°N, 75.96°WManlius — 42.97°N, 76.14°WManlius — 42.99°N, 76.46°WManlius — 43.45°N, 74.95°WManlius — 43.05°N, 76.15°WManlius — 42.89°N, 74.84°WDewal — 33.75°N, 68.03°EDewal — 33.87°N, 67.93°EDewal — 33.62°N, 67.90°EDewal — 33.73°N, 68.08°EHagen-Balve — 51.40°N, 7.81°EHagen-Balve — 51.37°N, 7.86°ELeduc — 53.55°N, 113.50°WLeduc — 53.95°N, 113.10°WKhandyg — 62.20°N, 138.15°EKhandyg — 63.40°N, 136.68°EKhandyg — 60.15°N, 137.10°EKhandyg — 63.52°N, 136.60°EKhandyg — 62.93°N, 138.10°EKhandyg — 62.85°N, 138.15°ECoopers Creek Limestone — 38.15°S, 146.47°EVilemovice Limestone — 49.23°N, 16.76°EQiziqiao — 27.83°N, 111.58°EQiziqiao — 27.40°N, 111.27°ESwan Hills — 54.87°N, 115.75°WXiazhen — 28.57°N, 118.32°EXiazhen — 28.75°N, 118.42°EXiazhen — 28.71°N, 118.38°ELazanky — 49.57°N, 17.25°ELazanky — 49.30°N, 16.75°ELazanky — 49.35°N, 16.72°EJemelle — 50.05°N, 4.52°E

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The named rock units Stromatoporoidea has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 485 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 767 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Stromatoporoidea and its relatives

Devonian

Where Stromatoporoidea and its relatives were recorded in the Devonian.

Found in the same rock

1,670 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records at least 850 sites for Stromatoporoidea, 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

453 references

Each of the 5,066 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. 441 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 content1

Picture of Stromatoporoidea

Credit
Wilson44691
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itPorifera through timeFormations of the DevonianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Nicholson and Murie 1878)