Scleractinian and rugose corals demonstrate a broad environmental distribution and have been documented in strata reflecting deposition from high-energy, nearshore reefal to low-energy basinal settings. Both clades have a relatively high diversity of representatives which live(d) at great depths. While deep-water scleractinian coral banks are" well-documented, commonly the deep-water representatives of both clades are the small, solitary, and often delicate forms. In order to determine the nature of diversification of these deep-water forms the paleoenvironments of the earliest Rugosa and representatives of extant deep-water scleractinian families were determined. Environmental patterns of the subsequentdiversification of the Rugosa and scleractinian sub-order Caryophylliina were also documented. Environmental information was determined from independent sedimentological data.
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