Description

Conularid
Paraconularia sp.
Lower Devonian (Pragian)
Wenban Limestone
Cortez, NV USA
Large 39mm conularid on 89mm slab. Rare.

Conulariid.

Paraconularia is a genus of conularid that lived across much of the chronologic range of the group and is known across the world (Canada, United States, Brazil, Argentina, Russia, China, India, Australia, New Caledonia, etc.). This specimen lived early in the range of the genus but other species survived into the Triassic.

Conularids (aka conulariids) make up a group of cone or pyramid-shaped invertebrates that have been classified within the Phylum Cnidaria with which they share fourfold symmetry but their exoskeleton is quite different from any cnidarian. Some paleontologists suggest the known genera should be assigned to their own phylum. In outward appearance they might have resembled crinoids from a distance as they were also attached to a stalk anchored to hard objects on the seafloor.

Conularids were quite long-lived as a group, appearing in the Ordovician and dying out sometime in the Triassic.