Hydnophoraraea Oppenheim, 1930

Löser, Hannes, Werner, Winfried & Darga, Robert, 2023, Middle Cenomanian coral fauna from the Roßsteinalmen (Northern Calcareous Alps, Bavaria, Southern Germany) – a revised and extended version, Zitteliana 97, pp. 89-147 : 89-147

Hydnophoraraea Oppenheim, 1930

Type species.

Monticularia styriaca Michelin, 1847 .

Description.

Hydnophoroid colony. Corallite centres can be recognised in places. Septa straight, free, often alternating in length and thickness. Their lateral faces bear thorns or are smooth. The columella is rudimentarily developed; it is difficult to assign the elements between the crests to any morphological unit. Endotheca well developed.

Remarks.

Formerly, this genus was assigned to the family Eugyridae ( Löser 2016 c, Löser et al. 2019). But it differs from this family by the less regular endotheca and thinner septa. Moreover, all other members of the Eugyridae became extinct before the Turonian. Hydnophoraraea shows certain similarities to the family Dendrogyridae , but there is also material that differs from this concept such as, for instance, by having a dissepimental instead of a tabular endotheca, or showing the lateral faces ornamented with thorns instead of being smooth. It is also possible that Hydnophoraraea encompasses heterogeneous material and it is also possible that further studies could reveal that the material assigned to Hydnophoraraea may belong to different genera. Further, it is also problematic that the type material of Monticularia styriaca Michelin, 1847 , type species of Hydnophoraraea , is not available (despite being registered in the catalogue of the MNHN in Paris).