Article: A redescription of the Bathonian red alga Solenopora jurassica from Gloucestershire, with remarks on its preservation

The Bathonian red alga Solenopora jurassica Brown 1894 ex Nicholson MSS. is redescribed and a neotype designated. It is composed of radiating filaments (0-45 mm mean diameter) divided into cells varying in length between 0-07 and 0-04 mm by concave outward septa. An alternation of layers with well-preserved and poorly preserved tissue structure respectively is typical, and parts of all specimens exhibit a bright pink banding, which is interpreted as remnants of an original pigment. Preservation of this pigment probably depended upon rapid burial of the alga while still alive or very soon after death. The only partial preservation of the pigment is related to variations of the algal tissue, which controlled later leaching.