Solenopora

{{Short description|Extinct genus of algae}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Cambrian|Tertiary|ref={{Cite journal| first = V. P.| title = Seasonal Banding in the Alga Solenopora jurassica from the Middle Jurassic of Gloucestershire, England| journal = Journal of Paleontology| volume = 59| date = 1 May 1985 | issue = 3| pages = 485–792 | issn = 0022-3360| last = Wright| jstor = 1304992| bibcode = 1974JPal...48..524M}}}}

| image = Solenoporaceae - Solenopora.JPG

| image_caption = Fossils of Solenopora species

| parent_authority = Pia, 1927 Max Hirmer; Julius Pia et al , 1927 Handbuch der Paläobotanik München : Verlag von R. Oldenbourg

| taxon = Solenopora

| authority = Dybowski, 1877

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision_ref =

| subdivision =

• †Solenopora alcicornis Ott, 1966
• †Solenopora concentrica Senowbari-Daryan et al., 2006
• †Solenopora guangxiensis Wu, 1991
• †Solenopora jurassica Brown, 1894
• †Solenopora paraconcentrica Senowbari-Daryan et al., 2006
• †Solenopora rectangulata Senowbari-Daryan et al., 2008
• †Solenopora spongiodes Dybowski, 1877
• †Solenopora triasina Vinassa de Regny, 1915
• †Solenopora vachardi Senowbari-Daryan et al., 2006

}}

The extinct Solenoporaceae have traditionally been interpreted as a group of red algae ancestral to the Corallinales.{{Cite journal| issn = 0022-3360| pages = 563–567 | last = Johnson | jstor = 1300291| date = May 1956| issue = 3| first = J. H.| title = Ancestry of the Coralline Algae| volume = 30| journal = Journal of Paleontology}}

The genus from which they take their name, Solenopora, originates in the Ordovician.{{Cite journal| first1 = W. H.| first2 = J. H.| first3 = M. J.| last1 = Blackwell| journal = Journal of Phycology| volume = 18| issue = 4| pages = 477–482| year = 1982| doi = 10.1111/j.0022-3646.1982.00477.x| last2 = Marak| last3 = Powell| title = The Identity and Reproductive Structures of a Misplaced Solenopora (Rhodophycophyta) from the Ordovician of Southwestern Ohio and Eastern Indiana1}} Unlike the Corallinaceae, this family has large vegetative cells and an undifferentiated thallus.

Additionally there are external, non-calcified sporangia.{{cite book

| url = https://archive.org/details/phycology00robe

| url-access = registration

| page = [https://archive.org/details/phycology00robe/page/158 158]

| quote = Solenoporaceae.

| title = Phycology

| publisher = Cambridge University Press

| isbn = 978-0-521-63883-8

| author1 = Lee, R. E.

| year = 1999}}

The differences in structure suggest that the holotype is not an alga at all, but rather is a chaetetid sponge. Post-Palaeozoic specimens therefore require re-classification.{{Cite journal | last1 = Riding | first1 = R. | title = Solenopora is a Chaetetid Sponge, Not an Alga | journal = Palaeontology | volume = 47 | pages = 117–122| year = 2004 | doi = 10.1111/j.0031-0239.2004.00351.x| doi-access = free }} However, some algal taxa are still classified within the genus.{{Cite journal | last1 = Wolkenstein | first1 = K. | last2 = Gross | first2 = J. H. | last3 = Falk | first3 = H. | title = Boron-containing organic pigments from a Jurassic red alga | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume = 107 | issue = 45 | pages = 19374–19378 | year = 2010 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.1007973107| pmid = 20974956 |bibcode = 2010PNAS..10719374W | pmc = 2984207 | doi-access = free }}

Some specimens of algal Solenopora retain an original pink colouration, which is banded with growth stages of the fossil; this is produced by boron-containing hydrocarbons.

The solenoporaceae mineralized with calcite.{{Cite journal | last1 = Cozar | first1 = P. | last2 = Vachard | first2 = D. | title = A new Mississippian red alga from south-western Spain | journal = Geobios | volume = 39 | issue = 6 | pages = 791 | year = 2006 | doi = 10.1016/j.geobios.2005.09.002}}