Corals from Smackover (Jurassic of the United States)

Where: Columbia County, Arkansas (33.4° N, 92.7° W: paleocoordinates 26.0° N, 39.8° W)

• coordinate estimated from map

When: Smackover Formation, Oxfordian (163.5 - 157.3 Ma)

• The age of Smackover limestone is Middle or Upper Jurassic... One of the two new species is most closely allied to Middle Jurassic European species, whereas the other finds close comparison only with an Upper Jurassic species from the same area.

Environment/lithology: lagoonal or restricted shallow subtidal; limestone

• environment undisturbed by the surf,very shallow wateres of lagoons or in deeper water.Corals did not live in agitated water, or on the shallower parts, of the seaward margins of reefs. Absence of definitely ascertained back reef deposits. ...it may be doubted whether there were reefs of any sort in the Smackover sea in southern Arkansas.

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: mold/impression

Collected by Dr. R. W. Imlay

• deposited at the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan

Primary reference: J. W. Wells. 1942. Jurassic corals from the smackover limestone, Arkansas. Journal of Paleontology 16(1):126-129 [W. Kiessling/A. Girndt]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 78642: authorized by Wolfgang Kiessling, entered by Antje Girndt on 13.02.2008

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Anthozoa
 Scleractinia - Stylinidae
Stylina arkansasensis n. sp. Wells 1942 stony coral
Holotype
 Scleractinia - Thamnasteriidae
Thamnasteria imlayi n. sp. Wells 1942 stony coral
Holotype