The Sporolithaceae is the only known

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

of algae in the Sporolithales order.Kamiya, M., Lindstrom, S.C., Nakayama, T., Yokoyama, A., Lin, S.-M., Guiry, M.D., Gurgel, F.D.G., Huisman, J.M., Kitayama, T., Suzuki, M., Cho, T.O. & Frey, W. (2017). Rhodophyta. In: Syllabus of Plant Families, 13th ed. Part 2/2 Photoautotrophic eukaryotic Algae. (Frey, W. Eds), pp. xii, 171. Stuttgart: Borntraeger Science Publishers. Sporolithaceae was originally placed within the

Corallinales Coralline algae are red algae in the order Corallinales. They are characterized by a thallus that is hard because of calcareous deposits contained within the cell walls. The colors of these algae are most typically pink, or some other shade of re ...

order, until the creation of the Sporolithales order in 2017. They are differentiated from the

Corallinaceae The Corallinaceae are one of the two extant Coralline families of red algae; they are differentiated from the morphologically similar Sporolithaceae by their formation of grouped sporangial chambers, clustered into sori. The Corallinoideae ...

, by their formation of

conceptacle Conceptacles are specialized cavities of marine and freshwater algae that contain the reproductive organs. They are situated in the receptacle and open by a small ostiole.Boney, A.D. (1969). ''A Biology of Marine Algae''. Hutchinson Educational L ...

s with one or many pores. Species in the Sporolithales (and also the Sporolithaceae), have the characteristics of the Corallinophycidae, but differs from other orders (

, Rhodogorgonales) in producing tetrasporangia within calcified sporangial compartments and in having tetrasporocytes that undergo cruciate cleavage. The Graticulaceae (fossil family) are structurally similar to the Sporolithaceae, but are

Paleozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...

and date back to the Wenlock (Silurian).

Genera

As accepted by

AlgaeBase AlgaeBase is a global species database of information on all groups of algae, both marine and freshwater, as well as sea-grass. History AlgaeBase began in March 1996, founded by Michael Guiry. Text was copied from this source, which is avai ...

; * '' Archaeolithothamnion'' - 8 spp. * '' Hemiphyllum'' - 1 sp. * '' Heydrichia'' - 5 spp. * '' Roseapetra'' - 1 sp. * '' Sporolithon'' - 46 spp.

References

Red algae families Florideophyceae {{rhodophyta-stub