Palaeoaplysina
| Palaeoaplysina Temporal range: Upper Carboniferous –Lower Permian |
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|---|---|
Scientific classification  |
|
| Phylum: | Rhodophyta |
| Class: | Florideophyceae |
| Stem group: | Corallinales |
| Order: | †Archaeolithophyllales (?) |
| Family: | †Palaeoaplysinaceae |
| Genus: | †Palaeoaplysina |
Palaeoaplysina is a genus of tabular, calcified fossils that are a component of many Late Palaeozoic reefs.[1] The fossil acted as a baffle to trap sediment. Historically interpreted as a sponge or hydrozoan,[2] recent studies are converging to its classification in the coralline stem group, placing it among the red algae.[1]
Morphology
The thalloid organism had a series of internal canals opening in volcano-like domes, inviting comparison to filter-feeding organisms. On the other hand, it seems to have had a calcified cellular make up akin to that of the coralline reds, suggesting that it was either a stem-group coralline or a coralline-encrusted filter feeder.[3]
Distribution
The organism is widespread in the tropical/near-tropical margin of the Laurentian continent (from 45–15°N), but is not found elsewhere.[4] It acts as an important reservoir rock for oil deposits.[3]
See also
- Coralline algae#Evolution
- Other stem-group corallines:
- Arenigiphyllum (Ordovician)
- Petrophyton (Ordovician : Caradoc)
- Graticula (Silurian : Wenlock)
- Halysis (Ordovician)
- Archaeolithophyllum (Pennsylvanian)
- ?Maimonachaetetes (Mississippian)
- ?Palaeoaplysina (Pennsylvanian – Permian; possibly an animal)
- ? Solenoporaceae (Ordovician)
References
- ^ a b K. D. Anderson; B. Beauchamp (2011). "Development of a Palaeoaplysina Reef Complex, Ellesmere Island, Canadian Arctic". Recovery – 2011 CSPG CSEG CWLS Convention 1.
- ^ Davies, G. R.; Nassichuk, W. W. (1973). "The Hydrozoan? Palaeoaplysina from the Upper Paleozoic of Ellesmere Island, Arctic Canada". Journal of Paleontology 47 (2): 251–265. JSTOR 1302890.
- ^ a b Kaylee Anderson, Benoit Beauchamp (2010). "The Origin and Ecology of Late Paleozoic Palaeoaplysina in Arctic Canada: An Aberrant Ancestral Coralline Algae (?) that Grew at a Time of High Atmospheric CO2". GeoCanada.
- ^ Vachard, D.; Kabanov, P. (2007). "Palaeoaplysinella gen. Nov. And Likinia Ivanova and Ilkhovskii, 1973 emend., from the type Moscovian (Russia) and the algal affinities of the ancestral palaeoaplysinaceae n. Comb". Geobios 40 (6): 849–860. doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2007.01.006.
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