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.
The earliest endosymbiotic tubeworms have been discovered within skeletons of the tabulate coralHeliolitessp. from the Silurian (Ludlow) of Podolia, Ukraine. The new tubeworm species has a maximum diameter about 1 mm, a slightly conical tube, a smooth lumen in the tube and a lamellar wall structure. The tube wall is 0.05-0.10 mm thick. The new endosymbiotic tubewormCoralloconchus bragensisn. gen. and sp. shares zoological affinities with the tentaculitids (incertae sedis) and is assigned to the Family Cornulitidae (Tentaculita, Cornulitida).
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