Taphonomic study of Chuaria fossils from the Ediacaran Lantian biota of South China

Wang, Wei; Guan, Chengguo; Zhao, Xianye; Fang, Yan; Zhou, Chuanming; Yuan, Xunlai

doi:10.1016/j.precamres.2021.106529

Cited by 11 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 41 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Evolutionary innovations on an unprecedented scale are observed in Ediacaran biotas in regard to morphological disparity and ecological adaptations. Macroscopic organisms are recorded as soft-bodied impressions, carbonaceous compressions and mineralized and organically preserved bodies in various environmental settings, ranging from shallow marine to offshore and deep basinal (Narbonne et al 2014;Wan et al 2016;Warren et al 2017;Wood et al 2019). The macrobiota displays many novel morphological traits that are difficult to relate to modern organisms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ediacaran algal cysts from the Doushantuo Formation, South China

Moczydłowska

2021

Geol. Mag.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Early-middle Ediacaran organic-walled microfossils from the Doushantuo Formation studied in several sections in the Yangtze Gorges area, South China, show ornamented cyst-like vesicles of very high diversity. These microfossils are diagenetically permineralized and observed in petrographic thin-sections of chert nodules. Exquisitely preserved specimens belonging to seven species of Appendisphaera, Mengeosphaera, Tanarium, Urasphaera and Tianzhushania contain either single or multiple spheroidal internal bodies inside the vesicles. These structures indicate reproductive stages, endocyst and dividing cells, respectively, and are preserved at early to late ontogenetic stages in the same taxa. This new evidence supports the algal affiliations for the studied taxa and refutes previous suggestions of Tianzhushania being animal embryo or holozoan. The first record of a late developmental stage of a completely preserved specimen of T. spinosa observed in thin-section demonstrates the interior of vesicles with clusters of identical cells but without any cavity that is diagnostic for recognizing algal cysts vs animal diapause cysts. Various lines of evidence to infer biological affinities of these microfossils – morphology, reproductive characters, spatial arrangement of cells, and biochemical properties of the vesicle wall – are collectively characteristic of algal clades. Recognizing the biological affinities of these microfossils is key to understanding whether animals capable of producing such morphologically complex diapause cysts had an early Ediacaran fossil record (633–610 Ma), or the microfossils were non-animal holozoans or algae as argued herein for Tianzhushania spinosa and other studied microfossils.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ediacaran algal cysts from the Doushantuo Formation, South China

Moczydłowska

2021

Geol. Mag.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…2011), which were subsequently assigned to the alga Lantianella (Wan et al . 2016), while some authors (Van Iten et al . 2013, 2014) interpreted them as possible conulariids or conulariid‐like animals.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anatomy, palaeoautecology and phylogenetic affinity of tubular Glossolites magnus from the early Cambrian Chengjiang biota, South China

Sun

Zhao

Zhu

2022

Papers in Palaeontology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A number of well‐preserved fossil taxa from the early Cambrian Chengjiang biota of South China have played important roles in the construction and analysis of the early evolutionary tree of metazoans. Certain other Chengjiang taxa, erected based on limited characters, have yielded little or no information concerning key aspects of their palaeobiology, and consequently their phylogenetic significance has been difficult to assess. One such taxon is the large conical animal Glossolites magnus. Exceptionally preserved new material of this soft‐bodied species herein, bearing oral tentacles and internal structures, indicates that G. magnus is not, as previously proposed, a hyolith. This work provides further information about possible biological affinities and palaeoautecology, which still remain open questions.

show abstract

“…5G), a few may arguably be cnidarians or worms (Figs. 5H and 5I) (Yuan et al 2011, Wan et al 2016; however, once again, this requires corroboration. The Lantian Formation is assuredly Ediacaran in age and possibly as old as 635 Ma; however, from a conservative point of view, all that can be said is that they are most likely older than 551 Ma (Xiao et al 2014).…”

Section: Paleontological Evidencementioning

confidence: 96%

“…However, two exceptionally preserved fossil biotas (Konservat-Lagerstätten) in post-glacial (= post-Marinoan) formations in China provide permissive of a probably older Ediacaran record (Yuan et al 2011. The well-known Weng'an biota from phosphorites in the upper half of Doushantuo Formation (Xiao et al 2014, and references therein;Cunningham et al 2017a) could be as old as about 600 Ma, then the Lantian biota, from stratigraphically deeper pelites of the Lantian Formation, would have to be older than this (Yuan et al 2011, Wan et al 2016. Precise ages of these assemblages have yet to be established (Yuan et al 2011.…”

Section: Paleontological Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Dawn of metazoans: to what extent was this influenced by the onset of “modern-type plate tectonics”?

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The appearance of complex megascopic multicellular eukaryotes in the Ediacaran occurred just when the dynamics of a cooling Earth allowed establishment of a new style of global tectonics that continues to the present as "modern-type plate tectonics". The advent of this style was first registered in 620 Ma-old coesite-bearing Ultra-High Pressure eclogites within the Transbrasiliano-Kandi mega-shear zone along the site of the West Gondwana Orogeny (WGO). These eclogites comprise the oldest evidence of slab-pull deep subduction capable of inducing continental collisions and producing high-relief Himalayan-type mega-mountains. Life, prior to this time, was essentially microscopic. Yet with increasing Neoproterozoic oxygenation and intensified influx of nutrients to Ediacaran oceans, resulting from the erosion of these mountains, complex macroscopic heterotrophic eukaryotes arose and diversified, taking the biosphere to a new evolutionary threshold. The repeated elevation of Himalayan-type mega-mountains ever since then has continued to play a fundamental role in nutrient supply and biosphere evolution. Other authors have alluded to the influence of Gondwana mountain-building upon Ediacaran evolution, however we claim here to have identified when and where it began.

show abstract

Taphonomic study of Chuaria fossils from the Ediacaran Lantian biota of South China

Cited by 11 publications

References 41 publications

Ediacaran algal cysts from the Doushantuo Formation, South China

Ediacaran algal cysts from the Doushantuo Formation, South China

Anatomy, palaeoautecology and phylogenetic affinity of tubular Glossolites magnus from the early Cambrian Chengjiang biota, South China

Dawn of metazoans: to what extent was this influenced by the onset of “modern-type plate tectonics”?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About