Monograph: Tabulate Corals from The Givetian and Frasnian of the Southern Region of the Holy Cross Mountains (Poland)

Givetian and Frasnian tabulate corals from the southern region of the Holy Cross Mountains, Poland, are described. Both Givetian and Frasnian tabulate faunas from the study region are dominated by alveolitids and comprise 52 species (Favositida: 40 species, Syringoporida: 6 species, Auloporida: 6 species). A new genus belonging to Syringoporida is proposed – Sapounofouskilites gen. nov. – and five new species are erected (Favositida: Striatopora sciuricauda sp. nov., Alveolites? obtortiformis sp. nov., Crassialveolites oliveri sp. nov., Roseoporella heuvelmansi sp. nov.; and Auloporida: Aulopora slosarskii sp. nov.). Study of the intracolonial variation in tabulates shows that minimal and maximal corallite lumen diameters and pore diameters are the best taxonomical discriminators for Alveolitidae and Coenitidae, while the double wall thickness and tabulae spacing are less useful characters. Moreover, alveolitids and coenitids show overall greater intracolonial variation than, for example, heliolitids. The tabulate endobiont Chaetosalpinx? plusquelleci isp. nov. is newly described. Study of tabulate endobionts – that is, Chaetosalpinx? plusquelleci, Helicosalpinx cf. asturiana Oekentorp and H. isp. – show that these were parasites of tabulate corals. Givetian and Frasnian tabulate faunas from the Kielce (southern) Region of the Holy Cross Mountains are dominated by Alveolitidae.