Wang et al.—Silurian amplexoid rugose corals from South China 92(6):982–1004


985


Figure 3. Range chart of species belonging to Pilophyllia and Neopilophyllia n. gen. documented on the Upper Yangtze Platform of South China. Pink and blue colors mark the ‘pre-middle Telychian’ fauna and the ‘middle Telychian’ fauna, respectively; details of thin sections of representative species of the two genera showing septal microstructure and development of minor septa: (1) Pilophyllia fenggangensis Ge and Yu, 1974, NIGP 22085; (2−3) P. tenuiseptata (Cao, 1975): (2) NIGP 166950; (3) XACGS-G360; (4) Neopilophyllia crassothecata (Cao, 1975), NIGP 166953.


et al., 1986; He et al., 1989; Chen et al., 1997). However, the possibility that lamellar tissues are a secondary feature cannot be ruled out.


Minor septa.—The evolutionary trend of minor septa seems not to have been noticed by previous authors, perhaps due to its vagueness. New information in the present study demonstrates that minor septa are generally confined within the peripheral stereozone in the pre-middle Telychian fauna. By contrast, they normally extend beyond the stereozone a certain distance in most advanced forms, i.e., in nearly all forms of Neopilophyllia n. gen. of the middle Telychian fauna, probably related to their well-developed trabeculae.


Systematic paleontology


Order Rugosa Milne-Edwards and Haime, 1850 Family Amplexoididae Wang new family


Type genus.—Amplexoides Wang, 1947.


Other genera assigned.—Lindstroemophyllum Wang, 1947; Neopilophyllia n. gen.; Pilophyllia Ge and Yu, 1974; Proto- pilophyllum Ivanovskiy, 1963; Pseudomphyma Wedekind, 1927; Synamplexoides Stearn, 1956; and Zelophyllum Wedekind, 1927.


Genus questionably assigned.—Tabularia Soshkina, 1937.


Diagnosis.—Solitary or fasciculate coralla commonly with amplexoid major septa throughout growth. Major septa can extend to axis, generally without forming axial structure. Septal microstructure variously developed, can be entirely lamellar, or containing slender fibers, or consisting of slender to coarse rhabdacanthine trabeculae coated by lamellar tissues. Dissepi- ments commonly absent.


Remarks.—When introducing Amplexoides, Wang (1947, p. 174) noted that “this genus is proposed for the ‘ampleximorphs’ in the Silurian which is not related to the Carboniferous Amplexus coralloides, the genotype of Amplexus,” the latter


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