Cornulitida

Cornulitida Temporal range: Mid Ordovician–Late Carboniferous[1] PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Cornulitid on a brachiopod valve (Upper Ordovician, SE Indiana)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca (?)
Class:	†Tentaculita
Order:	†Cornulitida
Genera
Cornulites Conchicolites Cornulitella Cornulitozoon Opatozoon Reticornulites Septalites Coralloconchus

Cornulitida is an extinct order of encrusting animals from the Tentaculita class, which were common around the globe in the Ordovician to Devonian oceans, and survived until the Carboniferous.^{[1] [2][3]}

The organisms had shells, and were subject to predation by boring and other means from the Ordovician onwards. Many survived attacks by predators.^[1] Several cornulitids were endobiotic symbionts in the stromatoporoids and tabulates.^[4][5][6]

Their affinity is unknown; they have been placed in many phyla, and have been considered worms, corals, molluscs and more.^[1] They appear to be closely related to other taxa of uncertain affinity, including the microconchids, trypanoporids and tentaculitids.^[1]

References

1. Vinn, O. (2009). "Attempted predation on Early Paleozoic cornulitids". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 273: 87–91. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2008.12.004. Retrieved 2014-06-11.
2. Vinn, O (2013). "Cornulitid tubeworms from the Ordovician of eastern Baltic". Carnets de Géologie: 131–138. doi:10.4267/2042/51214. Retrieved 2013-07-25.
3. Vinn, O; Wilson, M.A. (2013). "Silurian cornulitids of Estonia (Baltica)". Carnets de Géologie: 357–368. doi:10.4267/2042/53034. Retrieved 2013-12-27.
4. Vinn, O.; Mõtus, M.-A. (2008). "The earliest endosymbiotic mineralized tubeworms from the Silurian of Podolia, Ukraine". Journal of Paleontology 82: 409–414. doi:10.1666/07-056.1. Retrieved 2014-06-11.
5. Vinn, O.; Wilson, M.A. (2010). "Endosymbiotic Cornulites in the Sheinwoodian (Early Silurian) stromatoporoids of Saaremaa, Estonia". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen 257: 13–22. doi:10.1127/0077-7749/2010/0048. Retrieved 2014-06-11.
6. Vinn, O.; Mõtus, M.-A. (2012). "Diverse early endobiotic coral symbiont assemblage from the Katian (Late Ordovician) of Baltica". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 321–322: 137–141. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2012.01.028. Retrieved 2014-06-11.

Cornulitids on a bryozoan; Bellevue Member, Grant Lake Formation, northern Kentucky.

Cornulites cellulosus from Wenlock of Saaremaa, Estonia