''Discoaster'' is a genus of extinct star-shaped marine algae, with calcareous exoskeletons of between 5-40 μm across that are abundant as nanofossils in tropical deep-ocean deposits of

Neogene The Neogene ( ,) is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period million years ago. It is the second period of th ...

age. ''Discoaster'' belongs to the haptophytes. About 100 species can be recognized.

Biostratigraphic significance

The

International Commission on Stratigraphy The International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), sometimes unofficially referred to as the International Stratigraphic Commission, is a daughter or major subcommittee grade scientific organization that concerns itself with stratigraphy, strati ...

(ICS) has assigned the extinction of ''Discoaster brouweri'' as the defining biological marker for the start of the Calabrian Stage of the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

, 1.806 million years ago. ICS has assigned the extinction of ''Discoaster pentaradiatus'' and ''Discoaster surculus'' as the defining biological marker for the start of the Gelasian Stage, 2.588 million years ago, the earliest stage of the

. ICS further assigned the extinction of ''Discoaster kugleri'' as biological marker for the start of the Tortonian Stage of the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

, 11.62 million years ago.

Species

Some species in this genus include: :

References

Haptophyte genera Prehistoric eukaryote genera Index fossils Paleocene first appearances Pleistocene genus extinctions {{Haptophyte-stub