Wetheredella
Extinct genus of single-celled organisms
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Wetheredella is a genus of calcimicrobes initially described from the Silurian of England, and subsequently reported from the Upper Ordovician to the end of the Carboniferous periods; its reefs are stated as being characteristic of the Ordovician-Silurian periods.[3] Its taxonomic position is uncertain; it has been suggested to be a foraminiferan,[6][7] a cyanobacterium[8] or simply treated as a microproblematicum;[9] Vachard & Cózar (2010) refer it to the Algospongia, a similarly controversial group that they assigned to the Protista but later, per Vachard, 2021, to Algae incertae sedis,[10] in its own family (Wetheredellidae or Wetheredellaceae) and suborder (Wetheredellina) in the order Moravamminida (= Moravamminales).[3] The genus is named in honor of the geologist Edward Wethered.[11]
| Wetheredella Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Clade: | Sar |
| Clade: | Rhizaria |
| Phylum: | Retaria |
| Subphylum: | Foraminifera (?) |
| Class: | incertae sedis (?) |
| Genus: | †Wetheredella Wood, 1948.[1] taxon inquirendum (possibly not in foraminifera[2] |
| Type species | |
| †Wetheredella silurica Wood, 1948 | |
| Species[3] | |
| |
| Synonyms[5] | |
Wetheredella is characterized by calcified tubes encrusting a foreign body, with convex outer surfaces and inner surfaces coiled around the encrusted grain. Recently it has been shown that structures matching the description of Wetheredella can be produced by sectioning of Allomena, meaning that Wetheredella is possibly a junior synonym of Allomena.[12]
