Ordering, Classification and Identification of Fossils

These flash cards reviews the principal Phylums and Classes of Fossils and basic ways to identifying fossils in each.

81 cards   |   Total Attempts: 182
  

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What is the most common type of fossils found belonging to the Phylum Cnidaria?
Corals (Class) Anthozoa)
Name the three orders with the Class Anthozoa.
Tabulata
Rugosa
Scleractina
What is the major distinguishing feature of Rugosa corals versus other corals ?
4 primary septa
What are the major distinguishing features of Tabulata corals?
Several individual tubes or coralites all growing from a flat sheet called a tabula.
What is the major distinguishing feature of Scleractina corals?
Six (or multiples of six) septa
What are 3 distinguishing features of the Phylum Cnidaria?
1. bodies composed of at least two layers
2. A hollow central cavity.
3. Radially symmetrical
What are 3 distinguishing features of the Phylum Brachiopoda?
1. Bivalves
2. filter feeding
3. Bilaterally symmetrical
Name two ways to distinguish Brachiopoda shells from Mollusca bivalve shells?
1. Brachiopoda bivalves are bilaterally symmetrical, Mollusca bivalves are not.

2. Brachiopoda bivalves are nearly always found with both shells locked together. Molusca bivalves are usually found as single shells.
What period in history is known as the "Age of the Brachiopods?
The Silurian period (in the Paleozoic era).
416 -444 Million years ago.
Name 2 distinguishing features of the phylum Mollusca?
1. (Usually) a hard, unsegmented shell
2. A distinctive head and foot.
Name the 3 prinicipal fossil classes withing the Phylum Mollusca
Class Gastropoda
Class Bilvaliva
Class Cephalopoda
Name the distinguishing feature of animals of the Class Gastropoda within the Phylum Mollusca.
A trochoidal spiral
Name the distinguishing feature of animals of the Class Bilvalvia within the Phylum Mollusca.
Bivalve shells (clamshells) which are the exact mirror image of each other (bilaterally symetrical)
Name the distinguishing features of animals of the Class Cephalopoda within the Phylum Mollusca.
Bilaterally symmetrical bodies, head and tentacles
What are the distinguishing features of the animals in the Subclass of Ammonoidea of the Class Cephalopoda, in the Phylum Mollusca?
Segmented, coiled shells, uncoiled or planispiral. Except for the earliest examples, these animals had very complex sutures.