Algae

Searched as Algae indet.. The Paleobiology Database treats Algae as the accepted name.

Algae are any of a large and diverse group of photosynthetic organisms. It excludes the land plants (embryophytes). Such organisms range from microscopic unicellular microalgae to seaweeds, multicellular macroalgae which may grow up to 50 metres (160 ft) in length. Most algae are aquatic, and some form cohesive colonies. Freshwater algae include Charophyta such as the filamentous Spirogyra and the grasslike stoneworts. Most algae are plankton carried passively by water, although some macroalgae have holdfasts for anchorage.

Algae

Toby Hudson · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
PlantaePBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB

Time the record covers

At least 515 million years on record.

The record covers at least 515.3 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 520 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Cambrian — about 26 of 256 occurrencesOrdovician — about 6 of 256 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 33 of 256 occurrencesDevonian — about 20 of 256 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 80 of 256 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 8 of 256 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 3 of 256 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 0 of 256 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 6 of 256 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 256 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 0 of 256 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 2 of 256 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 18 of 256 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 24 of 256 occurrencesPaleocene — about 23 of 256 occurrencesEocene — about 2 of 256 occurrencesOligocene — about 2 of 256 occurrencesMiocene — about 2 of 256 occurrencesPliocene — about 0 of 256 occurrencesPleistocene — about 1 of 256 occurrences530–513 Mya — about 1 occurrence513–495 Mya — about 25 occurrences477–460 Mya — about 2 occurrences460–442 Mya — about 4 occurrences442–424 Mya — about 24 occurrences424–407 Mya — about 14 occurrences407–389 Mya — about 8 occurrences389–371 Mya — about 6 occurrences371–354 Mya — about 1 occurrence354–336 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences336–318 Mya — about 5 occurrences318–301 Mya — about 56 occurrences301–283 Mya — about 19 occurrences265–248 Mya — about 9 occurrences248–230 Mya — about 4 occurrences230–212 Mya — about 2 occurrences212–194 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences159–141 Mya — about 2 occurrences141–124 Mya — about 2 occurrences124–106 Mya — about 13 occurrences106–88 Mya — about 4 occurrences88–71 Mya — about 6 occurrences71–53 Mya — about 40 occurrences53–35 Mya — about 1 occurrence35–18 Mya — about 3 occurrences18–0 Mya — about 2 occurrences515.3 Mya129 ka530 Mya0 Mya

256 occurrences of Algae on record, most of them in the Carboniferous. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

256 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

73 formations

Graham — 33.27°N, 98.11°WGraham — 33.18°N, 98.12°WGraham — 33.16°N, 98.16°WGraham — 33.14°N, 98.21°WGraham — 33.29°N, 98.25°WGraham — 33.00°N, 98.54°WGraham — 33.10°N, 98.40°WGraham — 33.12°N, 98.30°WBurgess Shale — 51.44°N, 116.47°WFort Union — 46.35°N, 103.87°WFort Union — 46.02°N, 103.76°WCaddo Creek — 33.20°N, 98.11°WCaddo Creek — 33.14°N, 98.21°WCaddo Creek — 33.05°N, 98.40°WCaddo Creek — 33.17°N, 98.16°WCaddo Creek — 33.12°N, 98.30°WBentiu — 11.03°N, 27.74°EHell Creek — 46.35°N, 103.87°WHell Creek — 46.02°N, 103.76°WAbu Gabra — 11.03°N, 27.74°EHonaker Trail — 38.58°N, 109.58°WLa Colonia — 42.52°S, 66.84°WChorrillo — 50.51°S, 72.56°WHemse Beds — 57.28°N, 18.32°EHemse Beds — 57.37°N, 18.69°EHemse Beds — 57.23°N, 18.37°EMotol — 50.00°N, 17.78°EKatsberg — 42.15°N, 74.70°WGerster — 40.50°N, 114.83°WGerster — 40.08°N, 113.83°WGerster — 40.25°N, 115.17°WCassian — 46.68°N, 12.15°ECassian — 46.53°N, 11.92°ESierra del Castillo — 38.18°N, 5.02°WSierra del Castillo — 38.29°N, 5.25°WSierra del Castillo — 38.30°N, 5.28°WKlinteberg Beds — 57.53°N, 18.43°EEke Beds — 57.17°N, 18.38°EHamra Beds — 57.53°N, 18.43°ESteinsfjorden — 68.79°N, 14.95°ETonoloway — 39.57°N, 78.83°WMoenkopi — 37.12°N, 113.75°WMoenkopi — 37.12°N, 113.25°WBrad — 33.05°N, 98.40°WBrad — 33.19°N, 98.07°WCastro Limestone — 40.04°N, 18.42°E

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The named rock units Algae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 49 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 22 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Algae and its relatives

Carboniferous

Where Algae and its relatives were recorded in the Carboniferous.

Found in the same rock

2,044 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 659 sites for Algae, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

73 references

Each of the 256 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 61 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Algae

Credit
Toby Hudson
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPlantae through timeFormations of the CarboniferousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0.