A genus of extinct cup-shaped coral-like organisms from the Paleozoic era with distinctive internal leaf-like structures called septa.
Combines Greek kyathos (cup) with phyllon (leaf), using Latin genus naming conventions; coined in the 19th century when paleontologists first systematically studied these common fossils.
Cyathophyllum fossils are so common that they're used as index fossils—if geologists find one in rock layers, they instantly know roughly how old the rocks are, making these ancient cups incredibly valuable for dating Earth's history!
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