Article: Redescription of Lemoine's (1939) types of coralline algal species from Algeria

The type material of eight coralline algal species of the 27 established by Lemoine (1939) from the Cretaceous and Cenozoic of Algeria is preserved in Emberger's Collection at the University of Nantes. This is one of the very few extant collections of the original fossil material of Mme Lemoine, probably the most influential and prolific author of coralline algal palaeontology in this century. The study of this collection highlights the importance of re-documentation of type material of fossil taxa defined decades ago with descriptions and illustrations focused on characters different from those considered diagnostic in modern taxonomy. We redescribe and illustrate the conserved types and revise their taxonomic adscription and nomenclature. Archaeolithothamnium brevium, A. liberum and Lithophyllum Glangeaudi are assigned to Sporolithon; Mesophyllum Sancti Dionysii and M. curtum are confirmed as belonging to Mesophyllum, and Lithothamnium Betieri to Lithothamnion; whilst the absence of relevant characters in the M. Ehrmanni and Lithophyllum Sigi types prevents any certain inclusion in the currently accepted coralline genera. These results illustrate the risks of using names of taxa established long ago without reassessing their precise circumscription and the necessity of avoiding the use of taxa with no preserved type material.