Comparative morphology of the genus Tasmanites (Pterospermales, Chlorophyta)

Abstract Comparative morphological studies, using both transmitted and scanning electron microscopy, have been carried out on different developmental stages of both motile and non-motile phases of the fossil genus Tasmanites E. Newton (1875) and living specimens of the genus Pachysphaera Ostenfeld (1899) (Chlorophyta). The fossil material is of varying geological age and includes specimens from tasmanite rock from Tasmania, Australia, from which Tasmanites was originally described. The similarities found confirm that one genus, Tasmanites, suffices for both the fossil and living specimens.