Favites Temporal range: Jurassic - Recent |
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Favites pentagona | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Cnidaria |
Class: | Anthozoa |
Subclass: | Hexacorallia |
Order: | Scleractinia |
Family: | Merulinidae |
Genus: |
Favites Link, 1807 |
Species | |
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Favites is a genus of stony corals in the Merulinidae family. Members of this genus are native to the Indo-Pacific region and their ranges extend from the Red Sea through the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific Ocean as far as Japan, the Line Islands and the Tuamotu Islands.
Colonies can be encrusting but are usually massive and dome-shaped. The corallites are mostly cerioid (sharing a common wall), but some are plocoid (with an individual wall) and the palliform lobes are indistinct, which distinguishes these corals from the otherwise similar Goniastrea.
The following species are currently recognized by the World Register of Marine Species :
Fossils of Favites are found in marine strata from the Jurassic to the Quaternary (age range: from 161.2 to 0.0 million years ago.). Fossils are known from many localities in Europe, Indonesia, Philippines, Africa, North America, South America, Pakistan, Japan and India.