Borings in Cloudina Shells: Complex Predator-Prey Dynamics in the Terminal Neoproterozoic

Hong, Hui; Pratt, Brian R.; Zhang, Luyi

doi:10.1669/0883-1351(2003)018<0454:bicscp>2.0.co;2

Cited by 145 publications

(91 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Biomineralizing macro-organisms (Cloudina), annulated tubular macrofossils (Corumbella) and meiofaunal burrowers all appear in the Corumbá sections after 555 Ma, but before 542 Ma. The temporal range for the macrofossils corresponds well to similar latest Ediacaran fossil assemblages, some of which record evidence for predation 50 , a decline in Ediacaran softbodied macro-organisms 51 and the appearance of macroscopic burrows 10,17 in the interval immediately preceding the EdiacaranCambrian boundary. Taken together, these records bear witness to several major biological innovations among eumetazoans, indicating that this key interval may offer significant scope for unravelling the intricacies surrounding the early stages of bilaterian evolution.…”

Section: Nature Ecology and Evolutionsupporting

confidence: 61%

Ichnological evidence for meiofaunal bilaterians from the terminal Ediacaran and earliest Cambrian of Brazil

et al. 2017

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The evolutionary events during the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition (~541 Myr ago) are unparalleled in Earth history. The fossil record suggests that most extant animal phyla appeared in a geologically brief interval, with the oldest unequivocal bilaterian body fossils found in the Early Cambrian. Molecular clocks and biomarkers provide independent estimates for the timing of animal origins, and both suggest a cryptic Neoproterozoic history for Metazoa that extends considerably beyond the Cambrian fossil record. We report an assemblage of ichnofossils from Ediacaran-Cambrian siltstones in Brazil, alongside U-Pb radioisotopic dates that constrain the age of the oldest specimens to 555-542 Myr. X-ray microtomography reveals three-dimensionally preserved traces ranging from 50 to 600 μ m in diameter, indicative of small-bodied, meiofaunal tracemakers. Burrow morphologies suggest they were created by a nematoid-like organism that used undulating locomotion to move through the sediment. This assemblage demonstrates animal-sediment interactions in the latest Ediacaran period, and provides the oldest known fossil evidence for meiofaunal bilaterians. Our discovery highlights meiofaunal ichnofossils as a hitherto unexplored window for tracking animal evolution in deep time, and reveals that both meiofaunal and macrofaunal bilaterians began to explore infaunal niches during the late Ediacaran. NATuRE ECoLoGy & EvoLuTIoN Articles Nature ecology & evolutioNsupport for these suggestions is limited to purported body fossils of sponges 19 and demosponge biomarkers 20 . A considerable gap therefore remains between the fossil record of the late Ediacaran and molecular clock estimates for deep splits in the animal tree, for example the origin of Metazoa and Eumetazoa 3 . Assuming that contemporary molecular clock analyses yield accurate, if imprecise 18 , node ages for animal divergences, a small body size and concomitant limited fossilization potential 21 could reconcile these discordant records of animal evolution (but see ref. 22 ).The small body size of the ancestral bilaterian is supported by recent phylogenomic analyses of deep animal relationships, with acoel flatworms and xenoturbellids (Xenacoelomorpha) being a sister group to all remaining bilaterians (Nephrozoa) 23 , and smallbodied spiralian taxa (the 'Platyzoa') recognized as a paraphyletic grade with respect to macroscopic trochozoans 24 . This suggests that early bilaterians and spiralians were small bodied, possibly meiofaunal, and moved using ciliary gliding.Meiofauna comprises all organisms between 32 and 1,000 μ m in size that inhabit pore-water-rich sediments in freshwater to deepmarine environments 25 . Modern meiofaunal communities include animals, foraminifera and some ciliates, and contribute significantly to sediment bioturbation and bioirrigation 26,27 . The meiofauna can be divided into permanent members (that is, animals with organisms of a small size adapted and restricted to the meiofaunal, interstitial realm) and temporary meiofauna (for example, the ...

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Section: Nature Ecology and Evolutionsupporting

confidence: 61%

Ichnological evidence for meiofaunal bilaterians from the terminal Ediacaran and earliest Cambrian of Brazil

et al. 2017

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“…Biostratinomic analysis of the Gaojiashan biota indicates that rapid event deposition played a key role in the exceptional preservation of Gaojiashan fossils 11 . The Gaojiashan biota is dominated by weakly biomineralized to non-biomineralized tubular and ribbon-like fossils (for example, Cloudina, Conotubus, Gaojiashania, Shaanxilithes and Sinotubulites), and also includes protolagenid microfossils, algal debris, ichnofossils and microbial mat textures 11,28,[53][54][55][56][57][58][59] . The focus of this study, Conotubus hemiannulatus, is currently only known from the Gaojiashan Lagerstätte.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A unifying model for Neoproterozoic–Palaeozoic exceptional fossil preservation through pyritization and carbonaceous compression

et al. 2014

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“…and they also lacked macroscopic organs of direct interaction with either organisms of similar size or the environment (there are no legs, swimming appendages, claws, etc.). Further, they show no signs of predation, except for rare bore holes in the first skeletonised taxon, Cloudina, from the latest Ediacaran (Hua et al 2003). Thus, it indeed appears to have been the garden of Ediacara (McMenamin 2000) -macroscopic adult-body/adultbody interactions were minimal -nature was not yet red in tooth and claw.…”

Section: Example Of the Roughening Of A Fitness Landscape: The Cambrimentioning

confidence: 98%

The evolution of morphogenetic fitness landscapes: conceptualising the interplay between the developmental and ecological drivers of morphological innovation

Marshall

2014

Aust. J. Zool.

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Abstract. Here I show how fitness landscapes can be used to understand the relative importance of developmental and ecological change in initiating morphological innovation. Key is the use of morphogenetic 'rules' as the axes of the landscape, which enables explicit incorporation of the contribution that specific morphologies make to fitness. Four modes of fitness landscape evolution are identified: (1) change in the density of peaks on the landscape, driven by an increase in the number of selective pressures encountered; (2) change in the dimensionality of the landscape through the addition of morphogenetic rules; (3) change in the size of one or more dimensions of the landscape through elaboration of already existing morphogenetic rules; and, (4) shifting the position of peaks in the landscape. Morphological innovation is initiated by ecological change in Mode (1), for example the Cambrian explosion of animals, and Mode (4), for example, when taxa such as sticklebacks make a shift in environment, or during coevolutionary escalation. Morphological change is initiated by developmental innovation for Mode (2), typified by some macroevolutionary innovations, such as the emergence of jaws, and in Mode (3), for example, in the differentiation of flower morphology facilitated by gene duplication of the B-class developmental genes.

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Borings in Cloudina Shells: Complex Predator-Prey Dynamics in the Terminal Neoproterozoic

Cited by 145 publications

References 25 publications

Ichnological evidence for meiofaunal bilaterians from the terminal Ediacaran and earliest Cambrian of Brazil

Ichnological evidence for meiofaunal bilaterians from the terminal Ediacaran and earliest Cambrian of Brazil

A unifying model for Neoproterozoic–Palaeozoic exceptional fossil preservation through pyritization and carbonaceous compression

The evolution of morphogenetic fitness landscapes: conceptualising the interplay between the developmental and ecological drivers of morphological innovation

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