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| Hexagonaria percarinata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Hexagonaria percarinata |
| Fossil range | Devonian |
| Regnum | Animalia |
| Phylum | Cnidaria |
| Classis | Anthozoa |
| Ordo | Rugosa |
| Familia | Hexagonariidae |
| Genus | Hexagonaria |
| Species | percarinata |
Hexagonaria percarinata is an extinct species of rugose coral known from Devonian reef deposits and described from midwestern North America. It is recognized for its distinctive hexagonal corallites and septal architecture and has been used in regional biostratigraphy and paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Specimens have figured in paleontological collections, museum exhibits, and stratigraphic studies that relate to broad geological syntheses and historical surveys.
Hexagonaria percarinata was assigned within the order Rugosa and family Hexagonariidae during taxonomic treatments that built on 19th‑ and 20th‑century systematic work. Early descriptions and species diagnoses were published amid monographs and regional faunal lists that included contributors from institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, the United States Geological Survey, and university departments associated with the University of Michigan, the University of Chicago, Yale University, and Harvard University. Subsequent revisions referenced comparative type material curated at museums including the American Museum of Natural History and the Field Museum of Natural History, and nomenclatural decisions have been cross‑checked against catalogues maintained by national academies and geological surveys including the Geological Society of America. Synonymies and species boundaries have been discussed in papers appearing in journals overseen by editorial boards and societies such as the Paleontological Society, the Royal Society, and international congress proceedings where stratigraphers and systematists from institutions like the Natural History Museum (London), the Canadian Museum of Nature, and the British Geological Survey contributed.
The species displays the characteristic hexagonal corallite outlines that gave the genus its name, with calicular centres and radiating septa preserved in calcitic skeletons described in descriptive studies and monographs. Morphological descriptions have been compared across collections from field expeditions sponsored by bodies like the National Science Foundation and documented in compendia and atlases produced by university presses. Diagnostic features include septal insertion patterns, wall thickening, tabular structures, and carination that were illustrated in plate figures accompanying stratigraphic reports and theses arising from departments at Princeton University, Columbia University, and Ohio State University. Morphometric analysis and character coding used in cladistic matrices have been incorporated in syntheses produced by research groups at institutions such as Stanford University and the University of California system, while type photographs have been archived in museum databases connected to curatorial networks like the Association of Systematics Collections.
Hexagonaria percarinata is recorded predominantly from Middle to Late Devonian strata exposed in the Michigan Basin, the Appalachian Basin, and adjacent midcontinental exposures documented by state geological surveys and the United States Geological Survey. Its stratigraphic occurrences have been correlated with global Devonian stages and regional units described in correlation charts prepared by the International Commission on Stratigraphy, and cited in regional geological maps produced by state bureaus and provincial surveys in places where fieldwork involved collaborations with institutions such as the University of Toronto, McGill University, and Michigan Technological University. Published locality lists appear in bulletins and memoirs issued by geological societies and have been integrated into paleobiogeographic compilations contributed by researchers affiliated with the Royal Ontario Museum and other provincial repositories.
Interpretations of the species’ paleoecology derive from sedimentological context, community associations, and analogies drawn with framework-building reef taxa studied by reef ecologists and paleontologists at universities including the University of Queensland, James Cook University, and the University of Edinburgh. Hexagonaria percarinata commonly occurs in carbonate facies that indicate shallow, warm shelf environments; these facies interpretations have been presented in stratigraphic studies associated with oil and gas assessments by energy ministries and petroleum geology groups, and in ecological syntheses prepared by research groups at institutions such as Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Associated faunas reported alongside this coral in faunal lists compiled by museum curators include brachiopods, trilobites, stromatoporoids, and crinoids, with paleoenvironmental models debated at conferences organized by the Geological Society and the International Paleontological Association.
Fossils of Hexagonaria percarinata are preserved as calcitic skeletons commonly recovered from limestones, nodular limestones, and dolostones in roadcuts, quarry exposures, and cores archived by geological surveys and university repositories. Museum collections holding notable specimens have resulted from fieldwork funded by grants from agencies such as the National Endowment for the Humanities and national research councils, with specimens catalogued under accession systems used by institutions like the Smithsonian, the Field Museum, and the Royal Tyrrell Museum. Taphonomic studies addressing diagenesis, recrystallization, and compaction have been published in journals supported by scientific publishers and presented at symposia hosted by learned societies including the Geological Society of America and the Paleontological Society.
Hexagonaria percarinata has served as an index fossil in regional biostratigraphic zonation schemes, cited in stratigraphic correlation charts produced by the International Commission on Stratigraphy and used in basin analysis by hydrocarbon exploration teams and academic research groups. Its morphological variability has informed systematic revisions and evolutionary studies undertaken by researchers at major universities and museums, and specimens have been incorporated into educational exhibits and outreach programs run by institutions such as the Cincinnati Museum Center, the Royal Ontario Museum, and state natural history museums. Ongoing research continues through collaborations among paleontologists affiliated with institutions including Yale University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Kansas, and findings are disseminated via peer‑reviewed journals, conference proceedings, and open‑access databases maintained by international consortia.
Category:Devonian corals