1. A New Noncalcified Thallophytic Alga from the Lower Silurian of Anticosti Island, Eastern Canada
- Author
-
Jin Jisuo, Wang Yi, and Zhan Renbin (詹仁斌)
- Subjects
Appendage ,Biomass (ecology) ,Paleozoic ,Carbon sink ,Plant Science ,Biology ,biology.organism_classification ,Thallus ,Sea grass ,Paleontology ,Algae ,Botany ,Photic zone ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics - Abstract
An exceptionally preserved noncalcified thallophytic alga, Menieria minuta gen. nov. et sp. nov. from the uppermost Gun River Formation (middle Aeronian, Lower Silurian) of Anticosti Island, eastern Canada, is characterized by a relatively delicate thallus with a central axis, lateral branches, and helically arranged, regularly and closely spaced, elongate-linguoid appendages. The algae locally constitute an important portion of the biomass in a brachiopod-dominated paleocommunity, forming an algal meadow on a relatively deepwater subtidal setting within the photic zone. This rare fossilization window suggests that such soft algal meadows may have been common during the Early Paleozoic, resembling modern sea grass meadows that are part of the carbon sink.
- Published
- 2014