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Discoaster
| Description | Discoaster is a genus of extinct star-shaped marine algae, with calcareous exoskeletons of between 5-40 μm across that are abundant as nanofossils in tropical deep-ocean deposits of Neogene age. Discoaster belongs to the haptophytes. About 100 species can be recognized. From Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discoaster, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Source Data |
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| Rank | genus | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxonomy (GBIF) | Life : Chromista : Haptophyta : Prymnesiophyceae : Discoasterales : Discoasteraceae : Discoaster | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxonomy (PBDB) | Life : Haptophyta : Prymnesiophyceae : Discoaster | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxonomic Status (GBIF) | accepted | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Classification (PBDB,GBIF) |
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| Scientific Name | Discoaster Tan Sin Hok, 1931 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Opinions (PBDB) |
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| Taxon Size (PBDB) | 9 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| First Recorded Appearance | 66.0 - 56.0 Ma Paleocene | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Environment | oceanic,oligotrophic,marine,brackish (based on Haptophyta) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Motility | passively mobile (based on Haptophyta) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Diet | photoautotroph (based on Haptophyta) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Taphonomy | low Mg calcite (based on Haptophyta) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Primary Reference (PBDB) | K. Perch-Nielsen. 1985. Cenozoic calcareous nannofossils. in H. M. Bolli, J. B Saunders and K. Perch-Nielsen, eds., Plankton Stratigraphy, Cambridge University Press. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Wikipedia | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discoaster |
Fossil Distribution
Subtaxa
| Name | Status | Common Name(s) | Fossil Occurrences | Oldest | Youngest |
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| Discoaster adamanteus ✝ species | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 7 | 20.4 Ma Miocene | 16.0 Ma Miocene | |
| Discoaster bellus ✝ species | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 1 | 11.6 Ma Miocene | 11.6 Ma Miocene | |
| Discoaster bollii species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Discoaster brouweri ✝ species | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 5 | 16.0 Ma Miocene | 2.59 Ma Pleistocene | |
| Discoaster deflandrei ✝ species | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 11 | 48.6 Ma Eocene | 2.59 Ma Pleistocene | |
| Discoaster exilis species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Discoaster formosus species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Discoaster intercalaris ✝ species | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 2 | 16.0 Ma Miocene | 11.6 Ma Miocene | |
| Discoaster kugleri species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Discoaster mirus species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Discoaster pseudovariabilis species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Discoaster quinqueramus ✝ species | listed (PBDB) | 2 | 7.25 Ma Miocene | 5.33 Ma Miocene | |
| Discoaster surculus ✝ species | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 3 | 7.25 Ma Miocene | 2.59 Ma Pleistocene | |
| Discoaster variabilis ✝ species | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 14 | 20.4 Ma Miocene | 2.59 Ma Pleistocene | |
Obsolete Names
Synonymy List
| Year | Name and Author |
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| 1902 | Discoaster Tan |
| 1985 | Discoaster Perch-Nielsen |
References
Data courtesy of: PBDB: The Paleobiology Database, Creative Commons CC-BY licenced. , GBIF: the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, various licences, iDigBio, various licences, and EOL: The Encyclopedia of Life (Open Data Public Domain). Because fossils are made of minerals too!
