Rugose coral / Petoskey stone — Hexagonaria sp.

Geologic period: Devonian

Age: Devonian; the exact numeric age and species of this Smithsonian Hexagonaria sp. specimen are not assigned here.

Feeding: Individual polyps captured food from seawater; behavior is inferred from coral anatomy and relatives.

Body plan: Colonial framework of closely packed corallites.

Evidence: Corallite skeletons are direct evidence of the colony. Soft polyps are reconstructed.

Why it matters: Hexagonaria helps reconstruct the tropical seas that covered parts of North America during the Devonian.

Plain Language Identity: A colonial rugose coral of the genus Hexagonaria, the group that includes the famous Petoskey-stone fossils.

What You Are Looking At: A colony composed of many repeating skeletal cups, each originally occupied by an individual coral polyp.

Ecosystem: Warm Devonian marine environment.

Preservation: Fossilized colonial coral skeleton.

Open Questions: Do not automatically call the Smithsonian genus-level specimen Hexagonaria percarinata unless its species identity is independently confirmed.

Source Urls: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour/current-exhibits/deep-time-virtual-tour-fossil-list; https://lsa.umich.edu/paleontology/resources/beyond-exhibits/hexagonaria-percarinatum.html

Enrichment Method: SAGE curated research pass; title and scientific name matched; evidence separated from inference

Scientific name: Hexagonaria sp.

Evidence / representation: comparative_exact_taxon_visual

comparative_exact_taxon_visual

Oceans Before Dinosaurs: The Rise of Complex Animal Life.

Media license: CC BY 2.0

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0