Here is a very nice preserved Conularia from the upper Ordovician of the Tafilalt in Morocco. Conulariids are relative rare fossils even they are geographically wide distributed. This specimen shows a striking similairety to Archaeoconularia consobrina, that is known from the Ordovician of the Czech Republic. This fossil does come with the positive and Negative side.
Conularids are an extinct group of medusae (cnidarians) known from fossils from the late Ediacaran to the late Triassic. They are known almost exclusively for their hard external structures (also known as theca, periderm or test), which were pyramid-shaped and consisted of numerous lamellae. These structures resembled an ice cream cone with quadruple symmetry and usually had four distinctly grooved corners. The conulariids lived sessile and were attached to a hard surface. Soft tentacles protruded from the wider end of the cone, while an adhesive organ attached the fossil to the substrate at the pointed end. It is believed that they were hunters who caught their prey with their tentacles. |
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| Location: | Near Erfoud, El Kaid Rami Region Tafilalt, Morocco | |
Size Conularia : | about 42 mm long |
Age: | Upper Ordovician, Katian, Tioririne Formation (453 Ma) |