Heliolites

Heliolites is a large and heterogenous^[2] genus of extinct tabulate corals in the family Heliolitidae.^[3] Specimens have been found in Ordovician^[4] to Devonian^[5] beds in North America,^[6] Europe,^[5] Africa,^[7] Asia,^[8] and Australia.^[4] The genus is particularly abundant in the Wellin Member of the Hanonet Formation of Belgium.^[9]

Heliolites Temporal range: Ordovician-Devonian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Cnidaria
Subphylum:	Anthozoa
Class:	†Tabulata
Order:	†Heliolitida
Family:	†Heliolitidae
Genus:	†Heliolites Dana, 1846[1]

Members of the genus are distinguished by a prominent tubular coenenchyme (the tissue linking neighboring polyps) with 14–17 tubules around each corallite (the stony cup in which each polyp sits.)^[10]