A New Species of Dasycladacean Alga from the Playa Grande Formation (Pliocene) of Northern Venezuela

Abstract

The dasycladacean or "green" alga described in this note is rare, and occurs in a bioherm of coralline or "red'' algae.  The bioherm, which has been referred to by Weisbord (1957, pp. 14, 15, 16, and geologic map; 1964, figs. 6-7) as a Lithothamnium reef, is 2 meters thick, and is exposed uninterruptedly for a distance of approximately 150 meters in a bluff along the coast at Punta Gorda, Distrito Federal, Venezuela.  The bioherm or reef consists in large part of irregular nodular masses of coralline algae, bur within the bioherm there are pockets of sandstone containing numerous other fossils some of which after weathering out to the surface of the bioherm adhere to it and are well preserved.