Sporolithon praeerythraeum (Airoldi) Vannucci, Piazza, Fravega & Basso, 2000

Dey, Rikee, Basso, Daniela, Chakraborty, Arindam, Roy, Lopamudra, Bhaumik, Ajoy Kumar & Ghosh, Amit K., 2023, Rhodolith-forming coralline red algae in the CaCO biofactory - A case study from the Serravallian of tropical northeastern Indian Ocean, Comptes Rendus Palevol 22 (26), pp. 541-567 : 554

Sporolithon praeerythraeum (Airoldi) Vannucci, Piazza, Fravega & Basso, 2000

( Fig. 5E, F)

Archaeolithothamnium praeerithraeum Airoldi, 1932: 63 , pl. 9, fig. 2.

Sporolithon praeerythraeum (Airoldi) Vannucci, Piazza, Fravega & Basso, 2000: 193 .

DESCRIPTION

Lumpy to protuberant thallus, VC filaments indiscernible. The peripheral filaments (PF) show horizontal layers of elliptical cells. Cell fusions are present in the PF, the cells of PF measure 14 to 26 µm in length and 10 to 12 µm in diameter. Sporangia grouped in sori, individual sporangia measuring 30 to 36 µm in diameter and 59 to 68 µm in height ( Table 1 ).

REMARKS

Vannucci et al. (2000) revised and re-documented this species of Sporolithon and transferred Airoldi’s (1932) Archaeolithothamnium praeerythraeum under the genus Sporolithon with a new combination. The species has been identified from the late Eocene to early Oligocene of Italy and Bulgaria ( Francavilla et al. 1970; Bakalova 1983). The overall thallus organization, shape and size of the sporangia and the arrangement of the sporangia are closely comparable to the middle Miocene specimens recorded by Vannucci et al. (2000) and Chelaru & Bucur (2016).