Anthozoa - Heliolitida - Coccoserididae
According to Mõtus and Y. Zaika (2012), the species which occurred in Rakvere was first described by Eichwald in 1854. Later two type specimens of the species from Rakvere were illustrated as Diplastraea diffluens by Eichwald (1860, fig. 11a-b). Bondarenko (1980)redescribed one specimen (fig. 11b) as Diplastraea diffluens. The other specimen turned out to be another taxon (Paramongoliolites spiralis). The first specimen was selected as the lectotype of D. diffluens by Bondarenko and Gataulina (1986), but that lectotype specimen is not preserved. The only thin section of the specimen was damaged in a fire. Only a small piece of it has survived. Therefore Mõtus and Y. Zaika (2012) designated a neotype for this species redescribing it as Protaraea diffluens (Eichwald, 1854).
Full reference: E. Eichwald. 1854. Die Grauwackenschichten von Liv- und Estland. Bulletin de la Societe Imperiale des Naturalistes de Moscou 27:1-111
Belongs to Protaraea according to E. Eichwald 1854
Sister taxa: Protaraea procella, Protaraea richmondensis, Stylaraea parva
Type specimen: GIT 548-8
Ecology: stationary epifaunal suspension feeder-photosymbiotic
Distribution:
• Ordovician of Estonia (4 collections), the Russian Federation (1)
Total: 5 collections each including a single occurrence
Specimen images are retrieved through the ePANDDA API.
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