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Orbicella
| Description | Orbicella is a genus of stony corals in the Merulinidae family. The Orbicella species complex comprises three sister species, namely Orbicella faveolata, Orbicella annularis and Orbicella franksi, all of which are shallow-water, zooxanthellate species and are native to the tropical western Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. From Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbicella, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Source Data |
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| Rank | genus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxonomy (GBIF,PBDB) | Life : Animalia : Cnidaria : Anthozoa : Scleractinia : Merulinidae : Orbicella | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxonomic Status (GBIF) | accepted | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classification (PBDB,GBIF) |
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| Scientific Name | Orbicella Dana, 1846 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Name Published In | Dana, J.D. (1846-1849). Zoophytes. United States Exploring Expedition during the years 1838-1842. Lea and Blanchard, Philadelphia. 7: 1-740, 61 pls. (1846: 1-120, 709-720; 1848: 121-708, 721-740; 1849: atlas pls. 1-61). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opinions (PBDB) |
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| Status (PBDB) | extant | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxon Size (PBDB) | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Extant Size (PBDB) | 3 (43%) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First Recorded Appearance | 37.2 - 33.9 Ma Paleogene | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Environment | marine (based on Scleractinia) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Motility | stationary, attached (based on Faviina) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vision | blind (based on Anthozoa) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Diet | photosymbiotic, suspension feeder (based on Faviina) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reproduction | alternating, asexual, dispersal=water,planktonic (based on Scleractinia) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taphonomy | aragonite (based on Faviina) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Primary Reference (PBDB) | J. W. Wells. 1956. Scleractinia. Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology F:328-444 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wikipedia | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbicella |
Fossil Distribution
Subtaxa
| Name | Status | Common Name(s) | Fossil Occurrences | Oldest | Youngest |
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| Astraea excelsa species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Orbicella altissima species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Orbicella annularis species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Orbicella aucta species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Orbicella benoisti ✝ species | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | ||||
| Orbicella boehmi ✝ species | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 1 | 5.33 Ma Miocene | 5.33 Ma Miocene | |
| Orbicella comalensis species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Orbicella cumutensis species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Orbicella faveolata species | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 111 | 7.25 Ma Miocene | 0 Ma Extant | |
| Orbicella fijiensis species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Orbicella franksi species | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 19 | 7.25 Ma Miocene | 0 Ma Extant | |
| Orbicella gabbi species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Orbicella hispidula species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Orbicella imperatoris species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Orbicella insignis species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Orbicella intermedia species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Orbicella klunzingeri species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Orbicella laddi species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Orbicella lauensis species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Orbicella limbata species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Orbicella mansfieldi species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Orbicella nancyi ✝ species | listed (PBDB) | 125 | 0.78 Ma Pleistocene | 0.13 Ma Pleistocene | |
| Orbicella parksi species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Orbicella praeheliopora ✝ species | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 2 | 5.33 Ma Miocene | 5.33 Ma Miocene | |
| Orbicella sukunai species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Orbicella tongensis species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Orbicella travisensis species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Orbicella whitneyi species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
Synonymy List
| Year | Name and Author |
|---|---|
| 1846 | Orbicella Dana |
| 2014 | Orbicella Huang et al. |
References
Data courtesy of: PBDB: The Paleobiology Database, Creative Commons CC-BY licenced. , GBIF: the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, various licences, iDigBio, various licences, and EOL: The Encyclopedia of Life (Open Data Public Domain). Because fossils are made of minerals too!
