Wetheredella Explained

Wetheredella is a genus of calcimicrobes initially described from the Silurian of England, and subsequently reported from the Upper Ordovician to the end of the Carboniferous periods; its reefs are stated as being characteristic of the Ordovician-Silurian periods.^[1] Its taxonomic position is uncertain; it has been suggested to be a foraminiferan,^{[2] [3]} a cyanobacterium^[4] or simply treated as a microproblematicum;^[5] Vachard & Cózar (2010) refer it to the Algospongia, a similarly controversial group that they assigned to the Protista but later, per Vachard, 2021, to Algae incertae sedis,^[6] in its own family (Wetheredellidae or Wetheredellaceae) and suborder (Wetheredellina) in the order Moravamminida (= Moravamminales). The genus is named in honor of the geologist Edward Wethered.^[7]

Wetheredella is characterized by calcified tubes encrusting a foreign body, with convex outer surfaces and inner surfaces coiled around the encrusted grain. Recently it has been shown that structures matching the description of Wetheredella can be produced by sectioning of Allomena, meaning that Wetheredella is possibly a junior synonym of Allomena.^[8]

Notes and References

1. Vachard . D. . Cózar . P. . 2010 . An attempt of classification of the Palaeozoic "incertae sedis" Algospongia . Revista Española de Micropaleontología . 42 . 2 . 129–241 .
2. Riding . R. . Watts . N. . Silurian algal reef crest in Gotland . Naturwissenschaften . 68 . 2 . 91–92 . 1981 . 10.1007/BF01047229. 1981NW.....68...91R . 8834679 .
3. Sedimentary Geology. 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2006.04.009 . 2006SedG..192..243N . 192 . 3–4 . Significance of microbialites, calcimicrobes, and calcareous algae in reefal framework formation from the Silurian of Gotland, Sweden . 243–265. Nose . Martin . Schmid . Dieter U. . Leinfelder . Reinhold R. . 2006 .
4. Kaźmierczak. J.. Kempe. S.. 1992. Recent cyanobacterial counterparts of Paleozoic Wetheredella and related problematic fossils. PALAIOS. 7. 3. 294–304. 10.2307/3514974. 3514974 . 1992Palai...7..294K .
5. Lijing. Liu. Yasheng. Wu. Haijun. Yang. Robert. Riding. 2016. Ordovician calcified cyanobacteria and associated microfossils from the Tarim Basin, Northwest China: systematics and significance. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 14. 3. 183–210. 10.1080/14772019.2015.1030128. 129684955.
6. Book: Vachard, D. . 2021 . Elias . S. . Alderton . D. . Encyclopedia of Geology, Second Edition . Academic Press . 389–406 . Calcareous Algae (Rhodophyta and Chlorophyta) . 9780081029091.
7. Riding. Robert. Fan. Jiasong. 2001. Ordovician Calcified Algae and Cyanobacteria, Northern Tarim Basin Subsurface, China. Palaeontology. 44. 4. 783–810. 10.1111/1475-4983.00201. free.
8. Jarochowska. E. Munnecke. A.. 2014. The Paleozoic problematica Wetheredella and Allonema are two aspects of the same organism. Facies. 60. 2. 651–662. 10.1007/s10347-014-0399-z. 129772080.