NAME Sporocarpon asteroides
AGE Carboniferous.   AGE span: 359.2...299 mya
K&J CLASSIFICATION (2000) Ascomycetes, Eurotiales.
FIGURE(S)
Image of
Pl.29fig.5.jpg
FIGURE REFERENCE Williamson WC. 1880. On the organization of the fossil plants of the Coal Measures.--Part X. Including an examination of the supposed radiolarians of the Carboniferous rocks; Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, v. 171, p. 493-539.
SPECIES, AUTHORITY S. asteroides Williamson 1880, p. 510, pl. 17, fig. 38.
LOCATION Laggan Bay, Arran, Scotland.
ORIG DESCRIPTION* "Figure 38 represents the only example I have seen of what appears to be a transverse section of another conceptacle which exhibits very distinct features. It is contained in a slide of the Halifax material, for which I am indebted to Mr. Spencer. Its maximum diameter, including the radial prolongations, is about 0.016. Its peripheral layer consists of a thick investment of parenchyma, a, which is prolonged into six unequal obtuse rays. Within this tissue is a central spherical cavity, b, within which again is a very thin structureless membrane the tangentially intersected margin of which is seen at c. That the interior cavity is a spherical one is beyond doubt. Whether the six parenchymatous radii were the only ones which this object possessed, or whether similar ones existed perpendicular to the plane of the section, I am unable to say."

EMENDED DESCRIPTION (Hutchinson 1955, p. 429): Structures containing a spherical body approximately 200 to 375 µm in diameter. The wall is made up of parenchymatous cells which are prolonged outwards into an irregular number of conical rays, the maximum overall diameter of the structure including the rays being approximately 450 to 650 µm. The outermost layer of cells of the wall are broken or incomplete. One or more membranes may be present in the cavity; these may appear as a mass of dark dots 0.1 to 0.3 µm in diameter, or as an apparently undifferentiated film. An irregular number of isolated cells approximately 25 µm in diameter may be present in the cavity.

(Stubblefield, Taylor, Miller & Cole 1983, p. 1494): Spherical cleistothecia up to 375 µm in diameter, exclusive of outer wall. Outer wall sinuous to deeply lobed with wide conical rays, composed of pseudoparenchymatous cells, up to approximately 15 cells in thickness. Central cavity delimited by solid, non-cellular wall of one to several layers, inner layer granulose. Cavity empty or with smaller internal spheres.
COMMENTS* (Hutchinson): This description is based upon a re-examination of Williamson's slide 1508 and on examination of 18 specimens on slide 853 from the Kidston Collection. [For further details, refer to original paper].
PUBLICATION REFERENCE Williamson WC. 1880. On the organization of the fossil plants of the Coal Measures.--Part X. Including an examination of the supposed radiolarians of the Carboniferous rocks; Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, v. 171, p. 493-539.

Hutchinson SA. 1955. A review of the Genus Sporocarpon Williamson; Annals of Botany, v. 19, p. 425-435.

Stubblefield SP, Taylor TN, Miller CE, Cole GT. 1983. Studies of Carboniferous fungi. II. The structure and organization of Mycocarpon, Sporocarpon, Dubiocarpon, and Coleocarpon (Ascomycotina); American Journal of Botany, v. 70, p. 1482-1498.
K&J REMARKS
TYPE S. asteroides Williamson 1880, p. 510, pl. 17, fig. 38. Holotype: Slide 1508, Williamson Collection, British Museum of Natural History.
ALL NAMES (Including synonyms) Sporocarpon asteroides
SERIAL NUMBER 1605
PUBLIC COMMENTS
 *For source, see Publication Reference.