an extinct subclass of corals of the class Anthoza that flourished from the late Cambrian to the Permian. Tabulata formed large, bushy, or decumbent colonies of small (0.5–4 mm), tubular corallites with round or polygonal cross sections. The skeleton was calcareous. Inside the corallites there were horizontal or funnel-shaped bottoms and, sometimes, radial septa or, more often, septal spines. They were joined to each other by pores or connecting tubules. Some Tabulata were not joined to corallites. There existed approximately 160 genera of Tabulata belonging to seven orders, including Auloporidae, Lichenariida, Favositidae, and Syringoporidae. Heliolitoidae and Rugosa developed from the Auloporidae. Tabulata inhabited the shallow parts of seas. They are important for the stratigraphy of Paleozoic deposits.