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Evidence of Scenedesmaceae (Chlorophyta) from 100 million-year-old amber

Vincent GIRARD

en Geodiversitas 31 (1) - Pages 145-151

Published on 27 March 2009

This article is a part of the thematic issue Cretaceous ambers from southwestern France: geology, taphonomy, and palaeontology

Mid-Cretaceous ambers from Aix Island and Cadeuil (Charente-Maritime, southwestern France) have preserved a rich microorganism assemblage of cyanobacteria, testate amoebae, and algae. The assemblage contains the first fossil record of the modern green algae genus Enallax Pascher, 1943 (Chlorococcales, Scenedesmaceae) and a new species, Enallax napoleoni n. sp., is described. This discovery pushes back the origin of the genus Enallax to the Cretaceous. Enallax napoleoni n. sp. probably grew in freshwater ponds of the mid-Cretaceous amber forests of southwestern France under a warm climate, associated with the cyanobacterium Palaeocolteronema cenomanensis Breton & Tostain, 2005.


Keywords:

Algae, Scenedesmaceae, Enallax, amber, mid-Cretaceous, France, new species

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