Solenoporacean red algae from lower Danian (Paleogene) coral reefs of northern Patagonia, La Pampa, Argentina

Abstract

The specimens resemble the solenoporaceans related to coraline red algae that appeared in the Ordovician and survived into the Miocene (Riding 2004, Aguirre et al. 2000). The solenoporaceans is a broad morphological grouping of organisms including by Pia (1927) in the Solenoporaceae. They occur in widely different ages, some with clear algal affinities and others, such as Solenopora, with probably chaetetid affinities (Riding 2004). Solenopora was originally described as a chaetetid (Dybowski 1877) but it was reassigned to red algae by (Brown 1894). According to Riding (2004) the type species of Solenopora Dybowski (1877) (The Ordovician S. spongioides) is not an alga but a chaetetid sponge. Since there has been no revision of the genus ?Solenopora?, the term is used here in continuity to former publications as preliminary valid genus name.