Sporolithaceae

{{Short description|Family of algae}} {{automatic taxobox | fossil_range = {{Geo range|earliest=Wenlock|Mesozoic|recent}} | image = Heydrichia groeneri (5193791921).jpg | taxon = Sporolithaceae | authority = | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision_ref = | subdivision = }} The '''Sporolithaceae''' is the only known family of algae in the '''Sporolithales''' order.<ref name=Kamiya>Kamiya, M., Lindstrom, S.C., Nakayama, T., Yokoyama, A., Lin, S.-M., Guiry, M.D., Gurgel, F.D.G., Huisman, J.M., Kitayama, T., Suzuki, M., Cho, T.O. & Frey, W. (2017). Rhodophyta. In: Syllabus of Plant Families, 13th ed. Part 2/2 Photoautotrophic eukaryotic Algae. (Frey, W. Eds), pp. [i]-xii, [1]-171. Stuttgart: Borntraeger Science Publishers.</ref> Sporolithaceae was originally placed within the Corallinales order,<ref>{{cite web |title=Sporolithaceae, State Herbarium of South Australia |url=http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/efsa/Marine_Benthic_Flora_SA/Part_IIIB/Sporolithaceae.shtml |website=www.flora.sa.gov.au |access-date=14 December 2022}}</ref> until the creation of the Sporolithales order in 2017.<ref name=Kamiya/>

They are differentiated from the Corallinaceae, by their formation of conceptacles with one or many pores.<ref>{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_29tNNeQKeMC&q=Litostroma&pg=PA149 | title = Paleobotany: the biology and evolution of fossil plants | isbn = 978-0-12-373972-8 | author1 = Taylor, Thomas N | author2 = Taylor, Edith L | author3 = Krings, Michael | year = 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal| last1 = Aguirre | first1 = J.| last2 = Perfectti | first2 = F.| last3 = Braga | first3 = J. C.| title = Integrating phylogeny, molecular clocks, and the fossil record in the evolution of coralline algae (Corallinales and Sporolithales, Rhodophyta)| journal = Paleobiology| volume = 36| issue = 4| pages = 519| year = 2010| doi = 10.1666/09041.1| s2cid = 85227395}}</ref>

Species in the Sporolithales (and also the Sporolithaceae), have the characteristics of the Corallinophycidae,<ref>{{cite book |last1=de Queiroz |first1=Kevin |last2=Cantino |first2=Philip D. |last3=Gauthier |first3=Jacques A. |title=Phylonyms; A Companion to the PhyloCode |date=2020 |publisher=CRC Press |edition=1st |chapter=Corallinophycidae L. Le Gall and G. W. Saunders 2007 [G. W. Saunders], converted clade name}}</ref> but differs from other orders (Corallinales, Rhodogorgonales) in producing tetrasporangia within calcified sporangial compartments and in having tetrasporocytes that undergo cruciate cleavage.<ref name=Algaebase/>

The Graticulaceae (fossil family) are structurally similar to the Sporolithaceae, but are Paleozoic and date back to the Wenlock (Silurian).<ref name="Brooke1998">{{Cite journal | last1 = Brooke | first1 = C. | last2 = Riding | first2 = R. | title = Ordovician and Silurian coralline red algae | journal = Lethaia | volume = 31 | issue = 3 | pages = 185 | year = 1998| doi = 10.1111/j.1502-3931.1998.tb00506.x}}</ref>

==Genera== As accepted by AlgaeBase;<ref name=Algaebase>{{cite web |title=Taxonomy Browser :: AlgaeBase |url=https://www.algaebase.org/browse/taxonomy/#5117 |website=www.algaebase.org |access-date=12 December 2022}}</ref> * ''Archaeolithothamnion'' {{Au|Rothpletz ex Foslie}} - 8 spp. * ''Hemiphyllum'' {{Au|Marie Lemoine}} - 1 sp. * ''Heydrichia'' {{Au|R.A.Townsend, Y.M.Chamberlain & Keats}} - 5 spp. * ''Roseapetra'' {{Au|W.A.Nelson, Twist & K.F.Neill}} - 1 sp. * ''Sporolithon'' {{Au|Heydrich}} - 46 spp.

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Red algae families Category:Florideophyceae