Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A honeycomb coral (Upper Ordovician of southern Indiana)

Polygons are common in nature, whether in two dimensions as desiccation cracks or in three dimensions as with columnar basalt. They result from “closely-packed” disks or tubes. The honeycomb coral (Favosites Lamarck 1816) is one of the best fossil examples of hexagonal packing.

Favosites appeared in the Late Ordovician (about 460 million years ago) and went extinct in the Permian (roughly 273 million years ago). It consists of a series of calcitic tubes (corallites) packed together as closely as possible, thus the resemblance to a honeycomb. The corallites share common walls with each other. They were occupied by individuals known as polyps that were much like today’s modern coral polyps. They had tentacles that extended into the surrounding seawater to collect tiny prey such as larvae and micro-arthropods. (I’m confident here because we actually have fossils showing the soft polyps themselves.)

A, Portion of the corallum of Favosites favosa. B, Portion of four corallites of Favosites gothlandica, enlarged, showing the tabulae and mural pores. (From H.A. Nicholson (1877): "The Ancient Life History of the Earth A Comprehensive Outline of the Principles and Leading Facts of Palæontological Science.")

As you can see in the drawings above, the corallites are distinguished by internal horizontal partitions called tabulae and holes in the walls termed mural pores. These pores most likely allowed internal soft tissue connections between the polyps so that they could share digested nutrients.

Thin-section of Favosites from the Upper Ordovician of southern Indiana. Note the gaps in some corallite walls. These are mural pores.

Favosites as a genus has a very long history. It was named by the famous French natural historian and war hero Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. It is a favorite in paleontology courses because it is so easily recognized.