Caninophyllum Lewis, 1929

Denayer, Julien, 2016, Rugose corals across the Devonian-Carboniferous boundary in NW Turkey, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 61 (1), pp. 51-70 : 63

Genus Caninophyllum Lewis, 1929

Type species: Cyathophyllum archiaci Milne-Edwards and Haime, 1852 ; Viséan of England .

Diagnosis.—See Poty (1981).

Remarks.— Lewis (1929) created the genus Caninophyllum for caniniid corals with septa extending to the axis. This character allows the distinction with Caninia Michelin in Gervais, 1840, Siphonophyllia Scouler in McCoy, 1844 and Haplolasma Semenoff-Tian-Chansky, 1974 which all have withdrawn septa. The presence of a loose axial structure is one of the main differences with Bothrophyllum Trautschold, 1879 . However, Caninophyllum shows sometimes such an axial structure made of the dilated ends of major septa (e.g., Caninophyllum halkynense Lewis, 1929 ). The evolution of the genus follows an increase of size and complexity. The stratigraphic succession of species in the Belgian Namur-Dinant Basin exemplified perfectly this lineage. Caninophyllum patulum , the oldest species in Belgium appears early in the Ivorian; Caninophyllum sp. A ( Denayer et al. 2011: pl. 4J) characterized the upper Ivorian ( Poty 1989); Caninophyllum sp. B (described as C. patulum by Poty 1981) occurs in the Moliniacian; C. archiaci is common in the Livian then finally, C. halkynense appears in the Warnantian. This lineage possibly carries on in the Late Carboniferous where Bothrophyllum Trautschold, 1879 might have evolved from Caninophyllum with axial structure ( Poty 1981).