Biostratigraphy of Paleozoic Tabulata and Heliolitida of Central Asia

In Soviet Central Asia (Tien Shan and Pamirs) corals are unknown in the Lower Ordovician, rare and unstudied in the Middle Ordovician. The tabulate coral record from the Upper Ordovician, Silurian and Devonian is excellent and numerous common and Key genera and species are enumerated for each stage or substage. Tabulata reached their peak development in the Wenlock, and had markedly decreased in numbers and variety by late Middle Devonian time. Tabulata are rare in Upper Devonian and later rocks but occur through the Carboniferous and into the Upper Permian. -- W. A. Oliver, Jr.