Fig. 14

Phanerozoic geological succession showing a sketch of the history of stromatoporoid-form calcified sponges. Palaeozoic stromatoporoids range from the time of the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE) in the Middle Ordovician and are traditionally recognised to have become extinct at the end-Devonian Hangenberg Crisis. In the Carboniferous, Labechia carbonaria is Lower Carboniferous, and in the Upper Carboniferous only one sample, Newellia mira (Newell 1935) is confirmed. Two other fossils (Komia in the Upper Carboniferous and Palaeoaplysina in the Upper Carboniferous to Lower Permian) that have been attributed to stromatoporoids by other authors are annotated with question marks. See text for discussion