Primitive Silurian Leveillites Alga Fossil

Description: Plants are somewhat poorly represented during the Early Silurian due to the lack of suitable depositional environments. Noncalcified algae are particularly rare due to the lack of hard parts. They presumably were found in widespread locations but without the proper conditions for preservation few traces have been found. A deposit in Estonia was found late in the last decade which sheds some light on the variety of such thallophytic algae. The Kalana quarry is the best example of the flora preserved to date. This one is quite similar to a coeval type first described from Canada. While initially thought to be a graptolite, its ruffled appearance now leads researchers to consider it an alga much like the extant red algae. This is one of several types I have been fortunate enough to acquire.

Reference: Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences, Vol 58 No 1, 2009, pp38-42.