See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301341903 On the fossil alga Elianella elegans PFENDER & BASSE, 1948, and its so-called lookalikes, with description of Elianella brasiliana n.sp Revision of the Juliette PFENDER Collection.... Article in Carnets de Geologie · April 2016 DOI: 10.4267/2042/59920 CITATIONS READS 6 93 1 author: Bruno Granier Université de Bretagne Occidentale 187 PUBLICATIONS 1,402 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Stratigraphy of Lebanon View project Aptian stratotypes and GSSP View project All content following this page was uploaded by Bruno Granier on 18 April 2016. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Carnets Geol. 16 (6) On the fossil alga Elianella elegans PFENDER & BASSE, 1948, and its so-called lookalikes, with description of Elianella brasiliana n.sp. Revision of the Juliette PFENDER Collection. Part 1 Bruno GRANIER 1 Dimas DIAS-BRITO 2 Abstract: According to some authors, the three fossil algal forms discussed in this paper, Cordilites cretosus (REUS, 1846), Elianella elegans PFENDER & BASSE, 1948, and Parachaetetes asvapatii PIA in RAO & PIA, 1936, are synonyms. However, we document that they represent three discrete species. The genus Elianella PFENDER & BASSE, 1948, gets unique features that make it easy to discriminate; we describe a new species from Albian limestones of Brazil. The other two genera, Cordilites POČTA, 1887, and Para- chaetetes DENINGER, 1906, share some common features, such as having a thallus made of a lattice-net- work with columns (filaments) and rows. However, on the basis of their diagnostic criteria, the species Cordilites cretosus and Parachaetetes asvapatii should not be confused. Key Words: Rhodogorgonales; Elianellaceae; Solenoporacea; Cordilites; Elianella; Parachaetetes. Citation: GRANIER B. & DIAS-BRITO D. (2016).- On the fossil alga Elianella elegans PFENDER & BASSE, 1948, and its so-called lookalikes, with description of Elianella brasiliana n.sp. Revision of the Juliette PFENDER Collection. Part 1.- Carnets Geol., Madrid, vol. 16, no. 6, p. 213-229. Résumé : À propos de l'algue Elianella elegans PFENDER & BASSE, 1948, et ses soit-disants semblables, avec la description de Elianella brasiliana n.sp. Révision de la Collection Juliette PFENDER. 1e partie.- D'après certains auteurs, les trois formes fossiles algaires discutées dans cette publication, Cordilites cretosus (REUS, 1846), Elianella elegans PFENDER & BASSE, 1948, et Parachaetetes asvapatii PIA in RAO & PIA, 1936, sont synonymes. Nous démontrons cependant qu'elles constituent trois espèces distinctes. Le genre Elianella PFENDER & BASSE, 1948, a des caractéristiques uniques qui le ren- dent facile à identifier. Nous décrivons d'ailleurs une nouvelle espèce provenant de calcaires albiens du Brésil. Les deux autres genres, Cordilites POČTA, 1887, et Parachaetetes DENINGER, 1906, partagent quel- ques caractères communs, notamment celui d'avoir un thalle constitué par un réseau de cellules ayant l'aspect d'une grille avec des colonnes (filaments) et des rangées. Toutefois, sur la base de leurs critères diagnostiques, les espèces Cordilites cretosus et Parachaetetes asvapatii ne devraient normalement pas être confondues. Mots-clefs : Rhodogorgonales ; Elianellaceae ; Solenoporacea ; Cordilites ; Elianella ; Parachaetetes. Introduction nella elegans and Cordilites cretosus, POIGNANT (1980a) stated that "il s'agit en fait de la même The present paper focuses on Elianella ele- forme" [as a matter of fact it is the same form]; FENDER ASSE gans P & B , 1948, and two "lookali- the same year, POIGNANT (1980b) again conclu- kes": Cordilites cretosus (REUS, 1846), and ded that "ces trois formes sont synonymes" Parachaetetes asvapatii PIA in RAO & PIA, 1936. [these three forms are synonymous]. According Paleophycologists, i.e., those people assuming to MOUSSAVIAN (1989) and STOCKAR (2000), Elia- they were dealing with fossil algae, and other nella elegans is "a younger synonym of Para- paleontologists, i.e., those considering they chaetetes asvapatii". However, in our opinion, were dealing with Cnidaria or Porifera, have they represent three discrete species that have treated these three taxa either as individual often been misidentified. For instance, the Elia- OIGNANT MAUDRIC HAFFAUT species (e.g., P & A du C , nella elegans reported by DELOFFRE (1967) from 1970) or as synonyms. In the latest case they the Danian interval in the SNPA exploration well have treated either the three of them or only a Bastennes-Lonné l (FB1, Aquitaine, SW France) pair as synonyms. For instance, regarding Elia- is a genuine Parachaetetes DENINGER, 1906 (cf. 1 "Cátedra Franco-Brasileira no Estado de São Paulo 2015", UNESP - Universidade Estadual Paulista, Center for Geosciences Applied to Petroleum (UNESPetro), Caixa Postal 178, Av. 24 A, no. 1515, Bela Vista, CEP13506-900 - Rio Claro - SP (Brazil) Dépt. STU, Fac. Sci. Tech., UBO, CS 93837, F-29238 Brest (France) [email protected] Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, The University of Kansas, 1200 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, Kansas 66045 (USA) [email protected] 2 UNESP - Universidade Estadual Paulista, Center for Geosciences Applied to Petroleum (UNESPetro) & Departamen- to de Geologia Aplicada, Caixa Postal 178, Av. 24 A, no. 1515, Bela Vista, CEP13506-900 - Rio Claro - SP (Brazil) [email protected] Published online in final form (pdf) on April 14, 2016 [Editor: Michel MOULLADE; technical editor: Bruno GRANIER; language editor: Phil SALVADOR] 213 Carnets Geol. 16 (6) Parachaetetes asvapatii), as documented here- after. We report and illustrate below the main features of these three species in order to pre- vent them being confused again in the future. Material studied Ideally, this kind study would have required access to all the type materials, which was not feasible in the present case. However, the material studied here comprises thin sections from several researchers' collections: PFENDER (topotypic material), JOHNSON, and EMBERGER – DELOFFRE, as well as Brazilian material collected more recently, which display well-preserved specimens documenting diagnostic features. Considering Elianella elegans PFENDER & BASSE, 1948, the first author (B.G.) found only one thin section in the Juliette PFENDER Col- lection (Fig. 1.A). It is not one of the thin sections with the specimens originally illustra- ted by the authors (PFENDER & BASSE, 1948, Pl. XII, figs. 1-3), because this set is probably lost, but this thin section is marked "37 EB16", "NW de Lohaosy" (Ampanihy, Toliary), and "Calc. à Algues", i.e., it is a topotypic material from the Paleocene of S Madagascar. This specimen (Fig. 1.B) is selected here as the neotype. While investigating the JOHNSON Collection at Figure 1: A) Scan of the thin section marked "37 the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural EB16", "NW de Lohaosy", and "Calc. à Algues", Ju- History, the first author identified within a small liette PFENDER Collection; B) photomicrograph of the set of thin sections nice specimens of Cordilites neotype; C) detail with longitudinal sections of fila- cretosus (REUS, 1846) in one thin section mar- ments. [B scale bar 5 mm ; C scale bar 500 µm] ked D619-a-629 and bearing "Puerto Rico" as geographical label. The remaining thin sections yield "mid" Cretaceous (=Aptian-Cenomanian) Taxonomic affinities foraminifera, i.e., undetermined orbitolinidids. The three forms studied were formerly ascri- The material from the DELOFFRE Collection bed to the Family Solenoporaceae PIA, 1927, a was combined with that of the EMBERGER group of extinct "calcareous algae", because Collection as both consist of 27 thin sections of they share some morphological features: A) similar origin (core samples from the intervals they are either encrusting or forming free struc- 222.36-233.75 with a BGh1 label and 223.03- tures; B) their framework is made of erected 233.53 with a Bastennes 1 label, Danian in age, filaments, more or less densely juxtaposed, and both from the SNPA exploration well with common to rare horizontal partitions (i.e., Bastennes-Lonné I - FB1, Aquitaine, SW Fran- they are pluricellular algae), defining a more or ce). less preserved lattice-network with columns Most of the studied Brazilian Albian-Ceno- and rows; C) their mineralization is intracellu- manian material is registered in the collection lar, centripetal (starting from the cell walls in- of the "UNESPetro - Centro de Geociências Apli- wards), and consists of elongated fibrous calcite cadas ao Petróleo, UNESP - Universidade Esta- (probably high-Mg calcite) crystals, another dual Paulista, Rio Claro" (São Paulo, Brazil); feature that justifies their ascription to the red another part, consisting of a limited number of algae. However, D) reproductive organs (possi- thin sections, is deposited with LPB ("Labora- bly external) are unknown contrary to the re- toire de Paléontologie de Brest") numbers in the cords in its sister families, e.g., Hapalidiaceae collections of the "Département des Sciences de GRAY, Sporolithaceae VERHEIJ or Graticulaceae la Terre et de l'Univers, Université de Bretagne RIDING & BROOKE. Occidentale, Brest" (France). 214 Carnets Geol. 16 (6) Last but not least, RIDING (2004) demonstra- ted that the type of the genus Solenopora, S. spongioides DYBOWSKI, 1877, is actually "a chaetetid sponge, not an alga". The first author (B.G.) introduces hereafter the Family Elianella- ceae