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Stromatoporata (Stromatoporoids)

      Stromatoporoidea is a class of aquatic invertebrates common in the fossil record from the Ordovician through the Cretaceous. They were especially abundant in the Silurian and Devonian. These invertebrates were important reef-formers throughout the Paleozoic and the Late Mesozoic. The group was previously thought to be related to the corals and placed in the Phylum Cnidaria. They are now classified in the sponges (Phylum Porifera), specifically the sclerosponges. There are numerous fossil forms with spherical, branching or encrusting skeletons of laminated calcite with vertical pillars between the laminae.

Stromatoporoids are useful markers whose form and occurrence can diagnose the depositional environment of sedimentary strata.

Source: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromatoporoidea
Shapes of the stromatoporoid colonies
Shapes of the stromatoporoid colonies
A section through the stromatoporoid colony
A section through the stromatoporoid colony


 

FF249
Stromatoporoidea Stearn, 1972 FF249
FF211
Stromatoporoidea Stearn, 1972 FF211
FF207
Stromatoporoidea Stearn, 1972 FF207
  

In the Virtual Museum there are total 73 samples

Virtual museum of the Czech Geological Survey, www.geology.cz, (C) Czech Geological Survey, 2011, v.0.99 [13.12.2011]