Order

Melanoskleritoitidea Eisenack, 1963

Melanosclerites

Taxon overview

The term “melanosclerite” was first introduced by Eisenack (1942) to describe problematic rod-shaped organic microfossils recovered from Ordovician and Silurian glacial erratics from the Baltic region. To date, melanosclerites have been recorded from marine sediments and erratic boulders from the Lower Cambrian (Winchester-Seeto and McIlroy 2006) to the Late Devonian (Cashman 1992), although published records and detailed descriptions of melanosclerite taxa remain scarce in relation to other microfossil groups. (From: Trampisch & Butcher 2010, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-009-0042-4).

Selection of related publications

Du, M., Nõlvak, J., Tan, J., Gao, S., Wang, W. 2022. Melanosclerites from the Late Ordovician to earliest Silurian of Estonia and their palaeogeographical implications. Palynology 46, 3, 1-16. DOI:10.1080/01916122.2021.2012538

Trampisch, C. 2007. Melanosclerites from the Öjlemyr Cherts, Gotland. Comunicações Geológicas 94, 93-107.

Winchester-Seeto, T., McIlroy, D. 2006. Lower Cambrian melanosclerites and foraminiferal linings from the Lontova Formation, St. Petersburg, Russia. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 139, 1-4, 71-79. DOI:10.1016/j.revpalbo.2005.07.012

Eisenack, A. 1963. Melanoskleriten aus anstehenden sedimenten und aus geschieben. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 37, 1/2, 122-134. DOI:10.1007/BF02989605

Eisenack, A. 1942. Die Melanoskleritoiden, eine neue Gruppe silurischer Mikrofossilien aus dem Unterstamm der Nesseltiere. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 23, 1-2, 157-180. DOI:10.1007/BF03184419

List of species

1. Melanoarbustum balticum Górka, 1971

2. Melanocladus robustus Eisenack, 1942

3. Melanoclava betaotda Eisenack, 1942

4. Melanocyathus dentatus Eisenack, 1942 | Upper Ordovician

5. Melanofurca neptuni Eisenack, 1963

6. Melanoporella bulla Trampisch, 2007 | Upper Ordovician

7. Melanoporella clava Schallreuter, 1981 | Pirgu Stage→Porkuni Stage

8. Melanoporella polonica Górka, 1971 | Upper Ordovician

9. Melanorhabdus nodifer Eisenack, 1942 | Upper Ordovician→lower Silurian

10. Melanorhachis regularis Eisenack, 1942 | Pirgu Stage→Juuru Stage

11. Melanosteus acutus Eisenack, 1942 | Cambrian

12. Melanosteus anceps Eisenack, 1942

13. Melanosteus? asymmetricus Eisenack, 1942

14. Melanostylus coronifer Eisenack, 1963 | Porkuni Stage

15. Melanostylus hexasterides (Eisenack, 1942) | upper Silurian

16. Melanostylus polypes (Eisenack, 1942)

17. Menola oz Schallreuter, 1981 | Porkuni Stage

18. Mirachitina quadrupedis Eisenack, 1931

Classification

Organism group	Biota
Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Cnidaria
Subphylum	Anthozoa
	Medusozoa
Class	Hydrozoa
	Psammocorallia
	Scyphozoa
Order	Melanoskleritoitidea
Family	Melanoporellidae
	Melanoskleritoitidae
	Mirachitinidae
Genus	Melanoskleritoites
	Aspidella
	Byronia
	Semenola