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Abstract
Woelkerling W.J., Iryu Y. and Bassi D. 2013. Fossil semi-endophytic species of Lithophyllum (Corallinaceae, Rhodophyta) from Tahiti, including L. kenjikonishii sp. nov., and their taphonomic signatures. Phycologia 52: 387–397. DOI: 10.2216/13–129.1
Fossil specimens of two semi-endophytic species of Lithophyllum, L. kenjikonishii sp. nov. and L. cuneatum (Corallinaceae, Rhodophyta), were discovered in thin sections of ocean floor cores of the last deglacial period (c. 20,000–10,000 years before present) obtained from Tahiti, French Polynesia, during Expedition 310 of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program. Detailed morphological–anatomical accounts of both species are provided, and their placement in Lithophyllum and the subfamily Lithophylloideae is discussed in relation to recent classification proposals. Lithophyllum kenjikonishii, recorded only from fossil thalli, and L. cuneatum, known from fossil and nonfossil thalli, are readily distinguished in tetrasporangial conceptacle pore canal anatomy and on differences in spermatangial conceptacle chamber anatomy. Both species are semi-endophytic in Hydrolithon onkodes, another species of Corallinaceae. Taphonomic signatures evident in thin sections suggest that the occurrence of L. kenjikonishii, L. cuneatum, or Hydrolithon braganum (another semi-endophyte) growing in H. onkodes may be a reliable reference for identifying shallow-water settings (fore reef, reef flat and lagoon) in coral reef depositional systems within Pleistocene to last deglacial sedimentary successions in the Pacific Ocean. Taphonomic signatures thus have considerable potential as a palaeoecologic proxy in interpreting reef growth history.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program for inviting one of the authors (YI) to participate in ‘IODP Expedition 310′. Thanks also are due the scientists of Expedition 310, the staff of European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling (ECORD) Science Operator, the drillers from Seacore Ltd (Cornwall, UK) and Captain William Roger and crew of the DP Hunter for their cooperation. The Bremen Core Repository staff members, especially Walter Hale, Ursula Röhl and Alex Wulbers, are acknowledged for their support of the Onshore Science Party. This research made use of samples and data provided by the IODP. Sincere thanks are expressed to the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, for inviting D.B. to Nagoya, Japan, where the initial analysis of the material was performed. Thanks also are due to the Department of Botany, La Trobe University, for the ongoing provision of facilities for W.J.W. and to the two anonymous reviewers who provided a number of helpful comments.