Endobiotic rugosan symbionts in stromatoporoids from the Sheinwoodian (Silurian) of Baltica

PLoS One. 2014 Feb 25;9(2):e90197. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0090197. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

A paleoecological study of stromatoporoid endobionts was carried out to discern the relationships between symbiotic rugosans and their stromatoporoid hosts. The earliest endobiotic rugosan symbiont Palaeophyllum sp. in Baltica has only been found in the stromatoporoid Ecclimadictyon astrolaxum from Saaremaa, Estonia. The rugosans are vertically oriented inside the stromatoporoid skeleton. Numerous rugosans have their corallites open at the upper, external surface of stromatoporoids, but many are completely embedded within the stromatoporoids. Stromatoporoid hosts were presumably beneficial for rugosans as elevated substrates on a sea floor that offered a higher tier for feeding. Relative substrate stability in the hydrodynamically active shallow waters may have also been beneficial for the rugosans.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Estonia
  • Geological Phenomena
  • Invertebrates*
  • Paleontology
  • Symbiosis*

Grants and funding

O.V. is indebted to the SEPKOSKI Grant (Paleontological Society), Estonian Science Foundation grant ETF9064 and the target-financed project (from the Estonian Ministry of Education and Science) SF0180051s08 (Ordovician and Silurian climate changes, as documented from the biotic changes and depositional environments in the Baltoscandian Palaeobasin) for financial support. M-A.M. was supported by the target-financed project (from the Estonian Ministry of Education and Science) SF0140020s08. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.