Undescribed fossil
Mississippian
Warsaw Formation
Meramecian Series
St. Louis County, Missouri
Interesting little "bell" shapes
Viewer Comments:
It may belong
among the enigmatic Hederelloidea, which have commonly in
the past been included in the Cyclostomata but which have different skeletal
microstructure and "zooecia" that are probably a bit too big to
be bryozoans.
(In my master's thesis back in the late 1960s, I accepted hederelloids as
bryozoans
but have long since changed my mind.)
I think possibly it could be an auloporid
coral, but equally or more likely it is
a hederelloid, given its golden color compared with the gray color of the
fenestrate
bryozoan adjacent to it.
Dr. Frank K. (Ken) McKinney
This appears to be an undescribed fossil, so let's
be cautious about trying to identify it.
The comments from Ken McKinney that Barry has included at the bottom of the
page
seem to be on the mark. The chambers are larger than the chambers housing
zooids
of known bryozoans, but are the same size as those of an auloporid coral.
This is an
important character for determining affinity or choosing between coral and
bryozoan.
The chamber arrangement is unique, unlike any reported auloporid coral or
reported
bryozoan, but chamber arrangement can be easily modified by colonial organisms
like the corals (or bryozoans).
Summary: They show more similarity to corals than bryozoans.
This illustration of this fossil shows that discoveries
of new
fossils can be made by anyone.
Dr. Tom Yancey
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