The hunt for Cummingsella (Carboniferous, Chlorophyta)

Abstract

Until recently Cummingsella was only known by two rare and puzzling species, erected on very limited material. The genus was therefore considered as representing a very uncommon and puzzling form that played no role in carbonate sedimentation.
Recent studies of Viséan carbonates in the American Midcontinent have disclosed a prolific Cummingsella flora that indicates the proximity of an algal bank. Cummingsella can therefore be considered locally abundant, cosmopolitan (Europe, Australia, North America), ranging in age from the Tournaisian to the Namurian (Serpukhovian).