Complex noncalcified macroalgae from the Silurian of Cornwallis Island, Arctic Canada

Thin beds of silty limestone within a Ludlovian (Ludfordian) section of the Cape Phillips Formation on Cornwallis Island, Arctic Canada, contain numerous specimens of noncalcified macroalgae in association with dendroid and graptoloid graptolites, brachiopods, and trilobites. The algal material, preserved as carbonaceous compressions, represents three new taxa, each characterized by a central axis surrounded by laterals. Laterals of Eocladus xiaoi n. gen. n. sp. are thin and branch to the fifth order whereas those of Chaetocladus captitatus n. sp. are undivided and form a distinctive capitulum. Thalli of Palaeocymopolia nunavutensis n. gen. n. sp. have a branched, serial-segmented form and a corticated structure. On the basis of thallus architecture, all three taxa are assigned to the extant green algal order Dasycladales. Parallels exist between this macroalgal assemblage and a modern macroalgal association in Florida Bay.