// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did maculicorpus say? I've got a spot of trouble.

Maculicorpus Temporal range:
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Placozoa
Genus:	†Maculicorpus Knaust, 2021
Species:	†M. microbialis
Binomial name
†Maculicorpus microbialis Knaust, 2021

Maculicorpus is a fossil genus, potentially a placozoan, from the Middle Triassic of Germany. If its identity is correct, it is the only placozoan known from the fossil record. It comprises a single known species, Maculicorpus microbialis.

Discovery

Maculicorpus is known from a microbialite bed discovered in the Troistedt Quarry near Weimar, as part of the Meißner Formation. The microbialite has been dated to the late Anisian to early Ladinian.

Description

The specimens referred to Maculicorpus appear as flat patches, brown to ochre in color, varying between 1 mm (0.04 in) and 5 mm (0.20 in) in diameter. The outline is irregular and varies in overall shape from circular to elongate, fan-shaped or multi-lobed. The holotype, 4.5 mm (0.18 in) in length, is constricted in the middle, appearing as an aggregate of a larger, irregularly rounded portion and a smaller elliptical one. Maculicorpus is larger than any modern-day placozoan.

Classification

A study on the taphonomy of a modern-day placozoan, Trichoplax, cast uncertainty on the placozoan affinity of Maculicorpus due to the fact that placozoans appear to disintegrate into their component cells upon death in a manner inconsistent with the observed preservation of Maculicorpus. It was stressed more evidence for placozoan affinity is necessary, and that if the genus is a placozoan it must have been unlike modern forms in certain ways.

References

Works cited

• Knaust, Dirk (2021-10-07). "A microbialite with its entombed benthic community from the Middle Triassic (Anisian-Ladinian) Muschelkalk Group of Germany". Palaeontographica Abteilung A. 320 (1–3): 1–63. Bibcode:2021PalAA.320....1K. doi:10.1127/pala/2021/0114. ISSN 0375-0442.
• Tessler, Michael; Neumann, Johannes S.; Kamm, Kai; Osigus, Hans-Jürgen; Eshel, Gil; Narechania, Apurva; Burns, John A.; DeSalle, Rob; Schierwater, Bernd (2022-12-08). "Phylogenomics and the first higher taxonomy of Placozoa, an ancient and enigmatic animal phylum". Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 10. Bibcode:2022FrEEv..1016357T. doi:10.3389/fevo.2022.1016357. OSTI 1902587.
• Naimark, Elena; Lyupina, Yulia; Finoshin, Alexander; Nikitin, Mikhail (2025). "Taphonomic experiments shed light on fossilization potential of placozoa". PALAIOS. 40 (11): 336–348. doi:10.2110/palo.2024.020.