Syndesmorion gen. nov.—A coenobial alga of Chlorococcalean affinity from the continental Permian-Triassic deposits of Dalongkou section, Xinjiang Province, China

Abundant algal remains, represented by at least five different types of coenobia, have been recovered from continental sediments of the upper lower Guodikeng Formation, from the North Limb of Dalongkou Anticline, Xinjiang Province, China. Some of these forms have been recognized in assemblages from lower Triassic sediments of Poland, Germany, and Australia. The preservation of the Chinese material shows that all these planar, coenobial morphotypes belong to one natural species within the Order Chlorococcales. They are assigned to the genus Syndesmorion gen. nov., type species S. stellatum (Fija?kowska) comb. nov. Algal remains, described as Bijugum by Wood and Turnau in 2001, from the Devonian of Poland are planer and have comparable elongate coenobia but lack star-shaped and reticulate coenobia of Syndesmorion gen. nov. and so the genera are maintained separately.