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Halimeda: paleontological record and palaeoenvironmental significance

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Abstract

Udoteacean algae, identical or related to Halimeda, have been recorded in shallow-marine carbonate rocks since Upper Triassic. About 30 species have been described, most of which occur in Lower Cretaceous shelf carbonates. These species are conventionally attributed to four “genera” (Arabicodium Elliott, Boueina Toula, Halimeda Lamouroux, Leckhamptonella Elliott), but the validity of these taxa is a matter of discussion (generic or subgeneric position, or synonyma of Halimeda?) owing to wide discrepancies in the classification of fossil and recent species of halimediform algae. The paleoenvironmental setting of the Mesozoic and the Tertiary is comparable with that of recent Halimeda: lagoonal as well as reefal environments are already known from Upper Triassic occurrences. A reinvestigation of Boueina limestones described from Norian-Rhaetian lagoonal carbonates of Western Thailand indicates the important role of the alga (Boueina marondei n. sp.) in sediment accumulation from its very beginnings.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Paläontologie, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Loewenichstrasse 28, D-8520, Erlangen, Federal Republic of Germany

    E. Flügel

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  1. E. Flügel
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Flügel, E. Halimeda: paleontological record and palaeoenvironmental significance. Coral Reefs 6, 123–130 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00302008

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