The rangeomorph Pectinifrons abyssalis: Hydrodynamic function at the dawn of animal life

Darroch, Simon A.F.; Gutarra, Susana; Masaki, Hale; Олару, Андрей; Gibson, Brandt M.; Dunn, Frances S.; Mitchell, Emily; Racicot, Rachel A.; Burzynski, Gregory S.; Rahman, Imran A.

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.105989

Cited by 2 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…This picture contrasts with a significant reduction in the diversity and disparity of Ediacarans in the 'Nama' assemblage, which terminates at the Cambrian boundary. In this assemblage erniettomorphs, rangeomorphs, and arboreomorphs cooccur with an expanded range of tubicolous metazoan biomineralisers and bilaterian ichnofossils Darroch et al, 2018). Finally, although most of the Nama Ediacarans disappear near the Cambrian boundary some frondose and modular body plans have been suggested to persist until at least 518 Ma (Zhao et al, 2022;Hoyal Cuthill, 2022), attesting to latesurviving Ediacaran-grade animals in the midst of the Cambrian Explosion (Fig.…”

Section: The Nature and Reality Of Ediacaran 'Assemblages'mentioning

confidence: 85%

“…The 'Avalon' assemblage mostly comprises frondose rangeomorphs and arboreomorphs (Darroch et al, 2018) together with probable early poriferans (Suarez & Leys, 2022) and cnidarians (Dunn et al, 2022). The 'White-Sea' assemblage is significantly more taxonomically and ecologically diverse, encompassing disparate soft-bodied taxa such as erniettomorphs, the motile dickinsoniomorphs and bilateralomorphs (Darroch et al, 2018), and diverse radial multilobed forms (Cracknell et al, 2021;Rahman et al, 2015) together with the earliest documented bilaterian animals (Fedonkin & Waggoner, 1997;Jensen, Droser & Gehling, 2006;Evans et al, 2020). This picture contrasts with a significant reduction in the diversity and disparity of Ediacarans in the 'Nama' assemblage, which terminates at the Cambrian boundary.…”

Section: The Nature and Reality Of Ediacaran 'Assemblages'mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Classic Ediacaran soft-bodied macrofossils, henceforth informally referred to as 'Ediacarans', comprise disparate frondose, modular, and lobate body plans (Fig. 1) conventionally thought to have become extinct, or at least to have faded from ecological dominance, in the terminal Ediacaran (Darroch et al, 2018;Hoyal Cuthill, 2022). Due to a scarcity of obvious homologies with living taxa, their constructional morphology and phylogenetic placement have proved notoriously controversial (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Ediacaran Biota encompasses a heterogenous suite of macroorganisms appearing in the fossil record around 575 million years ago (Ma), during the Ediacaran period [635-539 Ma (Darroch et al, 2018;Bowyer et al, 2022)] and generally occurring in benthic settings dominated by bacterial matground ecologies (Gehling, 1999). Classic Ediacaran soft-bodied macrofossils, henceforth informally referred to as 'Ediacarans', comprise disparate frondose, modular, and lobate body plans (Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We then integrate the geochemical proxy record of Ediacaran redox and carbon cycle perturbations (Section III) with recent geochronological data to assess whether these Earth systems 'anomalies' emerge as strong candidate extinction drivers. Then, we discuss how the traditional alternative to abiotic explanations for Ediacaran extinctions, the 'biotic replacement' model (Laflamme et al, 2013;Darroch et al, 2018), may be refined in light of emerging evidence from the fossil record (Section IV) and highlight persisting uncertainties and promising research avenues under this hypothesis (Section V). In particular, we single out bilaterian diversification as a persistent and highly consequential trend in Ediacaran macroevolution, grounded in fundamental features of resource distribution in late-Neoproterozoic ecosystems and their information landscape (Section V).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Decline and fall of the Ediacarans: late‐Neoproterozoic extinctions and the rise of the modern biosphere

Mussini,

Dunn

2023

Biological Reviews

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The end‐Neoproterozoic transition marked a gradual but permanent shift between distinct configurations of Earth's biosphere. This interval witnessed the demise of the enigmatic Ediacaran Biota, ushering in the structured trophic webs and disparate animal body plans of Phanerozoic ecosystems. However, little consensus exists on the reality, drivers, and macroevolutionary implications of end‐Neoproterozoic extinctions. Here we evaluate potential drivers of late‐Neoproterozoic turnover by addressing recent findings on Ediacaran geochronology, the persistence of classical Ediacaran macrobionts into the Cambrian, and the existence of Ediacaran crown‐group eumetazoans. Despite renewed interest in the possibility of Phanerozoic‐style ‘mass extinctions’ in the latest Neoproterozoic, our synthesis of the available evidence does not support extinction models based on episodic geochemical triggers, nor does it validate simple ecological interpretations centred on direct competitive displacement. Instead, we argue that the protracted and indirect effects of early bilaterian innovations, including escalations in sediment engineering, predation, and the largely understudied impacts of reef‐building, may best account for the temporal structure and possible selectivity of late‐Neoproterozoic extinctions. We integrate these processes into a generalised model of early eumetazoan‐dominated ecologies, charting the disruption of spatial and temporal isotropy on the Ediacaran benthos as a consequence of diversifying macrofaunal interactions. Given the nature of resource distribution in Ediacaran ecologies, the continuities among Ediacaran and Cambrian faunas, and the convergent origins of ecologically disruptive innovations among bilaterians we suggest that the rise of Phanerozoic‐type biotas may have been unstoppable.

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Section: The Nature and Reality Of Ediacaran 'Assemblages'mentioning

confidence: 85%

Section: The Nature and Reality Of Ediacaran 'Assemblages'mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Decline and fall of the Ediacarans: late‐Neoproterozoic extinctions and the rise of the modern biosphere

Mussini,

Dunn

2023

Biological Reviews

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Elongate Ediacaran fronds from the Flinders Ranges, South Australia

Grimes,

Narbonne,

Gehling

et al. 2023

J. Paleontol.

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Decimeter-scale, elongate, fossil fronds from the Ediacara Range in South Australia were formally described as Rangea longa Glaessner and Wade, 1966, but the disparate nature of documented specimens has hindered their inclusion in global syntheses and has resulted in these fossils being assigned to at least five different genera in two different clades since their discovery. Detailed study of the type material from the Ediacara Range and the few specimens subsequently collected elsewhere in the Flinders Ranges reaffirms that these specimens represent a single species, with the apparent morphological variation between specimens entirely taphonomic and reflecting the obverse and reverse surfaces of these fronds coupled with the orientation of the frond axis and petaloids at different angles relative to the sea bottom on which they were preserved. The preserved architecture of these fronds constitutes three orders of branching microstructure that are strictly orthogonal to immediately higher and lower orders. This implies affinities with the arboreomorphs, but representing a new frond genus herein named Akrophyllas. Akrophyllas n. gen. differs from all other Ediacaran fronds in exhibiting a stalk that is visible only on one side of the frond and is internal to the other side where the first-order branches instead meet at a zigzag axial trace. Akrophyllas n. gen. was attached to a bulbous holdfast on the sea bottom, and evidence for current scours that formed in the lee of the fronds and for a strong current alignment of felled fronds with depositional overlap of adjacent fronds imply an upright, epibenthic lifestyle for Akrophyllas longa new combination. UUID: http://zoobank.org/86e26477-7b1e-45da-870c-1b5d28fc510c

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The rangeomorph Pectinifrons abyssalis: Hydrodynamic function at the dawn of animal life

Cited by 2 publications

References 69 publications

Decline and fall of the Ediacarans: late‐Neoproterozoic extinctions and the rise of the modern biosphere

Decline and fall of the Ediacarans: late‐Neoproterozoic extinctions and the rise of the modern biosphere

Elongate Ediacaran fronds from the Flinders Ranges, South Australia

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