Fistulipora nodulifera

Description. Encrusting colonies, 0.63 – 0.80 mm thick. Autozooecia growing from thin epitheca, bending in the early exozone to the colony surface. Basal diaphragms rare. Autozooecial apertures circular to oval. Lunaria well-developed, rounded; ends of lunaria not indenting into autozooecia. Vesicles small to large, separating autozooecia in 1 – 2 rows, 10 – 15 surrounding each autozooecia aperture, with rounded to flat roofs, polygonal in tangential section. Microacanthostyles in outer layer of the calcite material, 0.020 – 0.035 mm in diameter. Autozooecial walls granular prismatic, 0.013 – 0.018 mm thick. Depressed maculae consisting of vesicles present, 0.81 – 1.26 mm in diameter, spaced 5 – 6 mm from centre to centre.

Figure 4 A-C; Appendix 1872 Fistulipora nodulifera Meek, p. 143, pl. 5, 5 a-d. 1894 Fistulipora nodulifera Meek, 1872; Keyes, pl. 34, fig. 3. 1903 a Fistulipora nodulifera Meek, 1872; Condra, p. 30 - 31, pl. 1, figs. 1 - 5. 1929 Fistulipora nodulifera var. maculosa Moore, p. 5, pl. 1, figs. 9, 12. 1930 Fistulipora nodulifera Meek, 1872; Sayre, p. 87 - 88, pl. 2, figs. 4 - 6. 2017 Fistulipora nodulifera Meek, 1872; Ernst and Vachard, p. 18, figs. 6 A-D. 2021 Fistulipora nodulifera Meek, 1872; Ernst, Krainer and Lucas, p. 220 - 222, figs. 4 c-f.

Remarks. Fistulipora nodulifera Meek, 1872, differs from F. vaccula Moore, 1929, from the Graham Formation (Virgilian) of Texas in possessing smaller autozooecial apertures (aperture width 0.22 – 0.35 mm vs. 0.35 – 0.50 mm in F. vaccula). Fistulipora nodulifera differs from F. distincta Schulga-Nesterenko, 1955, from the Pennsylvanian (Moscovian) of the Russian Platform in having smaller autozooecial apertures (aperture width 0.22 – 0.35 mm vs. 0.30 – 0.35 mm in F. distincta). Moore (1929) distinguished a variety Fistulipora nodulifera var. maculosa Moore, 1929 from the Graham Formation (Virgilian) of Texas by presence of maculae. However, maculae were also mentioned in other materials of F. nodulifera. Occurrence. Carboniferous, Pennsylvanian (Virgilian); Texas, Nebraska, Missouri, New Mexico (USA). Horquilla Formation, Carboniferous, Pennsylvanian, Desmoinesian (late Moscovian); Cerros de Tule, Sonora, Mexico. Gray Mesa Formation, Pennsylvanian (Desmoinesian); Fra Cristobal Mountains, New Mexico, USA. Graham Formation, Pennsylvanian (Virgilian); TXV- 200 (“ Spillway section at Lost Creek Lake ”), Texas, USA.

Material. SNSB-BSPG 2020 XCI 29, SNSB-BSPG 2020 XCI 34, SNSB-BSPG 2020 XCI 56 a-d, SNSB-BSPG 2020 XCI 57, SNSB-BSPG 2020 XCI 76, SNSB-BSPG 2020 XCI 97.