Abstract
Calcareous algae first appear as a well-defined array of fossils near the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary, and immediately assume importance as both paleontological and sedimentological constituents of shallow marine carbonate biotas and deposits. They constitute a wide range of morphological types with very different sizes, from microscopic tubes and spheres to cup-shaped skeletons tens of centimetres in size. Classification has been based on both their comparative morphology and also on evaluations of their affinity based on similarities to Recent algae. This latter aspect of research, while in itself a useful and necessary part of the study of these fossils, has also introduced a subjective element that has tended to destabilize classifications. Voronova (1976, Table 1) compares several earlier classificatory schemes which show the strong influence of interpretations of affinity. For example, Vologdin (1962) places Renalcis, Epiphyton, Chabakovia, Razumovskaya, and Bija in the Rhodophyta, whereas Luchinina (1975) places all the same genera in the Cyanophyta. At other times these genera have been split in various ways between both divisions.
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Riding, R., Voronova, L. (1985). Morphological Groups and Series in Cambrian Calcareous Algae. In: Toomey, D.F., Nitecki, M.H. (eds) Paleoalgology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-70355-3_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-70355-3_6
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