Editing Carboniferous (section)

===Marine invertebrates===
In the oceans the [[marine invertebrate]] groups are the [[Foraminifera]], [[Anthozoa|corals]], [[Bryozoa]], [[Ostracoda]], [[brachiopod]]s, [[Ammonoidea|ammonoids]], [[hederellid|hederelloids]], [[microconchids]] and [[echinoderm]]s (especially [[crinoid]]s).{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}} The diversity of brachiopods and fusilinid foraminiferans, surged beginning in the [[Visean]], continuing through the end of the Carboniferous, although cephalopod and nektonic conodont diversity declined. This evolutionary radiation was known as the Carboniferous-Earliest Permian Biodiversification Event.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shi |first1=Yukun |last2=Wang |first2=Xiangdong |last3=Fan |first3=Junxuan |last4=Huang |first4=Hao |last5=Xu |first5=Huiqing |last6=Zhao |first6=Yingying |last7=Shen |first7=Shuzhong |date=September 2021 |title=Carboniferous-earliest Permian marine biodiversification event (CPBE) during the Late Paleozoic Ice Age |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012825221002002 |journal=Earth-Science Reviews |volume=220 |page=103699 |doi=10.1016/j.earscirev.2021.103699 |bibcode=2021ESRv..22003699S |access-date=24 August 2022}}</ref> For the first time foraminifera took a prominent part in the marine faunas. The large spindle-shaped genus [[Fusulinida|Fusulina]] and its relatives were abundant in what is now Russia, China, Japan, North America; other important genera include ''Valvulina'', ''Endothyra'', ''Archaediscus'', and ''Saccammina'' (the latter common in Britain and Belgium). Some Carboniferous genera are still [[Extant taxon|extant]]. The first true [[priapulid]]s appeared during this period.{{sfn|Howe|1911|p=311}}

The microscopic shells of [[radiolaria]]ns are found in [[chert]]s of this age in the [[Culm Measures|Culm]] of [[Devon]] and [[Cornwall]], and in Russia, Germany and elsewhere. [[Porifera|Sponges]] are known from [[spicule (sponge)|spicule]]s and anchor ropes,{{sfn|Howe|1911|p=311}} and include various forms such as the Calcispongea ''Cotyliscus'' and ''Girtycoelia'', the [[demosponge]] ''Chaetetes'', and the genus of unusual colonial [[Hexactinellid|glass sponges]] ''[[Titusvillia]]''. Both [[reef]]-building and solitary corals diversify and flourish; these include both [[Rugosa|rugose]] (for example, ''[[Caninia (genus)|Caninia]]'', ''Corwenia'', ''Neozaphrentis''), heterocorals, and [[Tabulata|tabulate]] (for example, ''Chladochonus'', ''Michelinia'') forms. [[Conularids]] were well represented by ''Conularia''

[[Bryozoa]] are abundant in some regions; the fenestellids including ''Fenestella'', ''Polypora'', and ''[[Archimedes (bryozoan)|Archimedes]]'', so named because it is in the shape of an [[Archimedean screw]]. [[Brachiopod]]s are also abundant;<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pérez-Huerta |first1=Alberto |last2=Sheldon |first2=Nathan D. |date=30 January 2006 |title=Pennsylvanian sea level cycles, nutrient availability and brachiopod paleoecology |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031018205004451 |journal=[[Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology]] |volume=230 |issue=3–4 |pages=264–279 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2005.07.020 |bibcode=2006PPP...230..264P |access-date=31 March 2023}}</ref> they include [[Productida|productids]], some of which reached very large for brachiopods size and had very thick shells (for example, the {{cvt|30|cm}}-wide ''[[Gigantoproductus]]''<ref name=Hall2004>{{cite book
| url         = https://books.google.com/books?id=65Bdfy-SOyMC&dq=largest+Gigantoproductus&pg=PA87
| title       = Environment, Development, and Evolution. Toward a Synthesis
| publisher   = MIT Press
| date        = 2004
| access-date  = 2022-08-23
| page        = 87
|first1= Brian Keith |last1=Hall|first2=Gerd B. |last2=Müller|first3=Roy Douglas |last3=Pearson
| isbn = 9780262083195
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| url         = https://books.google.com/books?id=bL60DwAAQBAJ&dq=largest+Gigantoproductus+giganteus&pg=PA47
| title       = Convergent Evolution on Earth. Lessons for the Search for Extraterrestrial Life
| publisher   = MIT Press
| date        = 2019
| access-date  = 2022-08-23
| page        = 47
| author      = George R. McGhee, Jr.
| isbn = 9780262354189
}}</ref>), while others like ''[[Chonetes]]'' were more conservative in form. [[Athyridida|Athyridids]], [[Spiriferida|spiriferids]], [[Rhynchonellida|rhynchonellids]], and [[Terebratulida|terebratulids]] are also very common. Inarticulate forms include ''[[Discina (brachiopod)|Discina]]'' and ''[[Crania (genus)|Crania]]''. Some species and genera had a very wide distribution with only minor variations.

[[Annelid]]s such as ''Serpulites'' are common fossils in some horizons. Among the mollusca, the [[bivalve]]s continue to increase in numbers and importance. Typical genera include ''[[Aviculopecten]]'', ''[[Posidonomya]]'', ''[[Nucula]]'', ''[[Carbonicola (bivalve)|Carbonicola]]'', ''Edmondia'', and ''Modiola''. [[Gastropod]]s are also numerous, including the genera ''Murchisonia'', ''[[Euomphalus]]'', ''Naticopsis''.{{sfn|Howe|1911|p=311}} [[Nautiloid]] [[cephalopod]]s are represented by tightly coiled [[Nautilida|nautilids]], with straight-shelled and curved-shelled forms becoming increasingly rare. [[Goniatite]] [[Ammonoidea|ammonoids]] such as [[Aenigmatoceras]] are common.

[[Trilobite]]s are rarer than in previous periods, on a steady trend towards extinction, represented only by the [[Proetida|proetid]] group. [[Ostracod]]a, a class of [[crustacean]]s, were abundant as representatives of the [[meiobenthos]]; genera included ''Amphissites'', ''Bairdia'', ''Beyrichiopsis'', ''Cavellina'', ''Coryellina'', ''Cribroconcha'', ''Hollinella'', ''Kirkbya'', ''Knoxiella'', and ''Libumella''. [[Crinoid]]s were highly numerous during the Carboniferous, though they suffered a gradual decline in diversity during the Middle Mississippian.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ausich |first1=William I. |last2=Kammer |first2=Thomas W. |last3=Baumiller |first3=Tomasz K. |date=8 February 2016 |title=Demise of the middle Paleozoic crinoid fauna: a single extinction event or rapid faunal turnover? |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/paleobiology/article/abs/demise-of-the-middle-paleozoic-crinoid-fauna-a-single-extinction-event-or-rapid-faunal-turnover/CCE6603D020FBCE7D793746990C5011A |journal=[[Paleobiology (journal)|Paleobiology]] |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=345–361 |doi=10.1017/S0094837300012811 |s2cid=140542784 |access-date=21 April 2023}}</ref> Dense submarine thickets of long-stemmed crinoids appear to have flourished in shallow seas, and their remains were consolidated into thick beds of rock. Prominent genera include ''Cyathocrinus'', ''Woodocrinus'', and ''Actinocrinus''. Echinoids such as ''[[Archaeocidaris]]'' and ''Palaeechinus'' were also present. The [[blastoid]]s, which included the Pentreinitidae and Codasteridae and superficially resembled crinoids in the possession of long stalks attached to the seabed, attain their maximum development at this time.{{sfn|Howe|1911|p=311}}

<gallery mode="packed">
File:Aviculopecten subcardiformis01.JPG|''Aviculopecten subcardiformis''; a [[bivalve]] from the [[Logan Formation]] (lower Carboniferous) of [[Wooster, Ohio]] (external mold)
File:LoganFauna011312.jpg|Bivalves (''Aviculopecten'') and brachiopods (''Syringothyris'') in the Logan Formation (lower Carboniferous) in Wooster, Ohio
File:Syringothyris01.JPG|''Syringothyris'' sp.; a spiriferid [[brachiopod]] from the Logan Formation (lower Carboniferous) of Wooster, Ohio (internal mold)
File:Palaeophycus01.JPG|''Palaeophycus'' ichnosp.; a [[trace fossil]] from the Logan Formation (lower Carboniferous) of Wooster, Ohio
File:PlatyceratidMississippian.JPG|[[Crinoid]] calyx from the lower Carboniferous of Ohio with a conical [[Platyceratidae|platyceratid]] gastropod (''Palaeocapulus acutirostre'') attached
File:Conulariid03.jpg|Conulariid from the lower Carboniferous of Indiana
File:Syringoporid.jpg|Tabulate coral (a syringoporid); Boone Limestone (lower Carboniferous) near Hiwasse, Arkansas
File:Typhloesus interpretation 2022.jpg|''[[Typhloesus]]'' was a bizarre invertebrate that lived in Montana. It is possibly a mollusk related to gastropods.
File:Essexella asherae.JPG|''[[Essexella]]'' was a cnidarian that lived in Northern Illinois. It was long considered a [[scyphozoa]]n, but is now regarded as a [[Sea anemone]]
File:Concavicaris georgeorum.png|''Concavicaris'' was a long lasting genus of [[thylacocephala]]n arthropod that lived from the Devonian to the Carboniferous.
File:Triproetus bonbon cropped.jpg|''[[Triproetus]]'' was a genus of [[Proetida|proetid]] trilobite, which were the only order that survived the end-Devonian extinction 
File:Daidal.png|''[[Daidal]]'' was a basal species of Mantis shrimp ([[stomatopoda]])
File:Jeletzkya douglassae.jpg|''[[Jeletzkya]]'' was an early genus of [[Coleoidea|coleoid]] cephalopod from northern [[Illinois]] 
File:Syllipsimopodi bideni.webp|''[[Syllipsimopodi]]'' was the earliest known [[Vampyropoda|vampyropod]] cephalopod, originating from Carboniferous rocks of Montana.
</gallery>