Fischer, Rudolf; Oliver, Carlos Galli; Reitner, Joachim. (1989). Skeletal Structure, Growth, and Paleoecology of the Patch Reef-Building Polychaete Worm Diplochaetetes mexicanus Wilson, from the Oligocene of Baja California (Mexico). Geobios. 22(5): 761-775.

58989

10.1016/S0016-6995(89)80071-3 [view]

Fischer, Rudolf; Oliver, Carlos Galli; Reitner, Joachim

1989

22(5): 761-775

Publication

World Polychaeta Database (WPolyDb)

Worm reeflets discribed here are composed of parallel and straight, curved, or bifurcated tubes, which are up to 10 cm long and have an average diameter of 1.4 mm. Their walls are composed of microgranular calcite and are multilamellar. The reef-builders settled on soft bottoms within the tidal or uppermost zone. They tolerated high water turbulence and a certain rate of sedimentation. Dead parts of the reef were recolonized by a new population. The reefs stabilized the sediment, produced biogenic debris, and offered new ecological niches for endo- and epilithic organisms. They mark a regional ecological event at the Oligocene/Miocene boundary. Diplochaetetes mexicanus as well D. longitubus demonstrate close relationships to a modern skeletal-forming polychaete worm, Dodecaria [sic, for Dodecaceria]. Diplochaetetes is definitly not a sclerosponge and demonstrates a convergence with the chaetetid basal skeletons of sponges and favositid corals.

Gulf of Mexico

Paleontology, Fossils, Paleobiology

Annelida
Polychaeta

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