Stromatoporoidea

Searched as Stromatoporoidea indet.. The Paleobiology Database treats Stromatoporoidea as the accepted name.

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 244 million years on record.

The record covers at least 471.3 Mya to 227.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 486.85 Mya to 201.4 Mya.

Cambrian — about 0 of 443 occurrencesOrdovician — about 61 of 443 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 154 of 443 occurrencesDevonian — about 212 of 443 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 1 of 443 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 4 of 443 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 443 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 1 of 443 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 10 of 443 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 443 occurrences493–483 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences483–473 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences473–463 Mya — about 2 occurrences463–453 Mya — about 7 occurrences453–443 Mya — about 51 occurrences443–433 Mya — about 42 occurrences433–423 Mya — about 91 occurrences423–413 Mya — about 36 occurrences413–403 Mya — about 22 occurrences403–394 Mya — about 23 occurrences394–384 Mya — about 83 occurrences384–374 Mya — about 57 occurrences374–364 Mya — about 9 occurrences364–354 Mya — about 1 occurrence324–314 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences314–305 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences255–245 Mya — about 4 occurrences245–235 Mya — about 4 occurrences235–225 Mya — about 4 occurrences225–215 Mya — about 1 occurrence215–206 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences206–196 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences471.3 Mya227.3 Mya493 Mya196 Mya

443 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

443 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

178 formations

Khandyg — 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°EBaraniy — 60.15°N, 137.10°EBaraniy — 62.93°N, 138.10°EBaraniy — 62.85°N, 138.15°EWinnipegosis — 52.96°N, 100.90°WWinnipegosis — 52.86°N, 100.81°WWinnipegosis — 52.81°N, 100.74°WWinnipegosis — 52.81°N, 100.86°WWinnipegosis — 51.58°N, 99.54°WHagen-Balve — 51.39°N, 7.87°EHanonet — 50.05°N, 4.48°EKuranakh — 63.40°N, 136.68°EKuranakh — 63.52°N, 136.60°EKuranakh — 62.93°N, 138.10°EKuranakh — 62.85°N, 138.15°EXiazhen — 28.71°N, 118.38°EBeul — 51.39°N, 7.87°ERead Bay — 73.25°N, 93.50°WRead Bay — 75.00°N, 95.00°WRead Bay — 74.84°N, 93.51°WRead Bay — 74.73°N, 94.94°WRead Bay — 74.70°N, 94.82°WRead Bay — 74.68°N, 93.48°WKeyser Limestone — 39.64°N, 77.66°WKeyser Limestone — 41.00°N, 77.00°WKeyser Limestone — 38.00°N, 80.00°WKeyser Limestone — 40.53°N, 78.38°WMartin — 34.75°N, 112.11°WMartin — 34.75°N, 112.13°WMartin — 34.87°N, 112.09°WMartin — 34.45°N, 111.84°WLost Burro — 36.33°N, 116.52°WLost Burro — 36.56°N, 117.04°WLost Burro — 36.58°N, 117.07°WElm Point — 51.45°N, 98.79°WElm Point — 51.32°N, 98.36°WElm Point — 50.77°N, 98.23°WOnondaga — 42.95°N, 76.17°WOnondaga — 42.92°N, 78.25°WOnondaga — 42.96°N, 78.74°WYarrimie — 30.77°S, 150.80°EYarrimie — 30.85°S, 150.80°EYarrimie — 30.95°S, 150.87°ESchistes de Beaulieu — 50.84°N, 1.76°EAïn Khira — 33.72°N, 7.02°WChangxing — 30.43°N, 108.53°EChangxing — 30.05°N, 108.93°EChangxing — 29.98°N, 109.08°EChangxing — 30.22°N, 109.05°ENahanni — 61.25°N, 124.00°WLeduc — 53.55°N, 113.50°WHemse Beds — 57.28°N, 18.32°EHemse Beds — 57.37°N, 18.69°EHemse Beds — 57.23°N, 18.37°ERytteraker — 60.17°N, 10.30°ERytteraker — 68.79°N, 14.95°ERytteraker — 59.83°N, 10.43°EScotch Grove — 42.00°N, 91.00°WScotch Grove — 41.85°N, 90.18°WScotch Grove — 42.17°N, 91.10°WGarra — 33.95°S, 148.82°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Stromatoporoidea has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 154 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 65 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

159 references

Each of the 443 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. 147 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 of Stromatoporoidea was found in Sketchfab.

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 itPorifera through timeFormations of the DevonianThe world it lived on

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