Dermatostroma
Classification
Phylum: Porifera
Class: Stromatoporoidea
Order: Labechiida
Family: Lophiostromatidae
Genus: Dermatostroma Parks, 1910
Cincinnatian Species: Dermatostroma canaliculatum, Dermatostroma concentricum, Dermatostroma costatum, Dermatostroma nodoundulatum, Dermatostroma papillatum, Dermatostroma scabrum
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Geologic Range
Ordovician
Common Paleoecology
Dermatostroma is an extinct genus of stationary epifaunal suspension feeders which have been interpreted to have hosted symbiotic algae in their tissues
Stratigraphic Occurrences
Geographic Occurrences
Sequences (Formations)
- C6 Sequence (Elkhorn)
- C5 Sequence (Liberty, Waynvesville)
- C4 Sequence (Arnheim)
- C3 Sequence (Mount Auburn, Corryville)
- C2 Sequence (Belleview, Fairview: Fairmount, Mount Hope)
- C1 Sequence (Kope/Clays Ferry: McMicken, Southgate, Economy/Fulton)
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Identification in Hand Sample:
- Covered with minute, close-set papillae
- No distinct development of pillars
- Some specimens have a repitition of sheet-like growths with irregular cavernous spaces
Dermatostroma from the Whitewater Formation of Clarksville, Ohio (OUIP 2096)
Parks (1910):
- The forms included in this genus present a papillose surface exactly resembling that of Lophiostroma (Chalazodes) but they differ from that genus in the thinner coenosteum and the almost complete obliteration of the pillars as distinct elements.
- The coenosteum consists of a thin continuous sheet of calcareous matter, usually investing a foreign body. It is covered with minute, close-set papillae giving to the whole surface a hail-like aspect as in Lophiostroma (Chalazodes) and in many species of Labechia. The internal structure of the coenosteum is not well revealed by any of the numerous sections made; it does not, however, show the structure either of Labechia or of Lophiostroma, for it presents neither distinct pillars connected by vesicular tissue nor spongy pillars crossed by the successive horizontal sheets. The basal expansion of Labechia is very like an example of the present genus, consisting, as it does, of a continuous horizontal expansion with numerous papillae on the surface. These papillae of the young Labechia rise into pillars with the further growth of the organism, but in Dermatostroma there is no distinct development of pillars at all, the growth being arrested with the completion of the basal expansion. In some forms, however, there is a repetition of these sheet-like growths with irregular cavernous interspaces between.
- Many of the forms here included have previously been ascribed to Labechia, but the complete absence of vesicular tissue and distinct pillars renders necessary their removal to the new genus.
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