疑源类:元古代和古生代神秘的有机质壁微体化石

疑源类是一类不能归入任何已知生物门类的单细胞原生生物的有机质壁囊孢。大多数疑源类可能是海生真核浮游植物的休眠囊孢。有些疑源类可能是沟鞭藻的囊孢 ,但缺乏足够的形态学证据来确认它们的分类位置。有些疑源类已经确认是绿藻 ,但为了便于研究 ,通常仍然将其包括在疑源类中。因此 ,疑源类是一类起源未知的或不确定的异源的、多源的有机壁微体化石集合体。疑源类的大小变异范围可以从 <10 μm到大于 1m m,但大多数种的大小在 15— 80 μm之间。由于疑源类个体小、数量丰富、分异度高 ,分布广 ,因此它们在生物地层对比、古生物地理学、古环境学研究中非常有用。几乎所有地层中都可以找到疑源类 ,但以晚元古代和古生代最为常见。因为疑源类代表元古代、古生代海洋食物链底层的化石记录 ,所以在全球海洋生态系统的演化上起着非常重要的作用。     

鲁西上元古界佟家庄组的微体植物化石

鲁西安丘地区停家庄组含保存很好的微体植物化石。经研究计有14属11种(含1新种),1相似种和6个未定种。这一微体植物化石组合以球形疑源类最多,另有少数Micrhystridium,?Ceratophyton conicum以及丝状微体化石的标本。根据佟家庄组微体植物化石组合与国内外已知组合的比较,并参考从上覆浮莱山组获得的同位素年龄资料,笔者认为鲁西佟家庄组与安徽淮南地区的刘老碑组是同时的,皆为800—700Ma前沉积形成。     

湖北峡东地区九龙湾剖面震旦系陡山沱组微体化石的新发现

中国南方扬子地台震旦系陡山沱组产出丰富的微体化石,它们主要保存在磷块岩以及燧石结核和条带中。文章详细报道湖北峡东地区九龙湾剖面震旦系陡山沱组微体化石,描述以前未曾在峡东地区碳酸盐相燧石中发现的8属8种微体化石。研究九龙湾剖面陡山沱组大型带刺疑源类、微体多细胞藻类和动物胚胎化石的分布特征,发现Tianzhushania spinosa是最早出现的大型带刺疑源类分子,大冰期后微体生物的辐射是一个阶段性渐进的过程。同时．本项研究进一步证实华南扬子区陡山沱组碳酸盐相燧石和磷块岩地层中保存的微体化石面貌基本一致。     

中国贵州东部乌溜-曾家崖剖面早—中寒武世凯里组疑源类(英文)

我国贵州东部乌溜-曾家崖凯里组剖面作为世界早-中寒武世界线层型侯选剖面,产出良好保存的大型无脊椎动物化石(尤其是三叶虫)。因此,更加详细研究该剖面海洋疑源类的生物地层非常重要,将提供围绕界线的生物和环境变化的细微记录。乌溜-曾家崖剖面凯里组的疑源类划分两个组合,它们是凯里组0-52m的Leiomarginata si mplex-Fi mbriaglomerella membranacea组合和52-140m的Cristallinium cambriense-Heliosphaeridiumnodosum-Globosphaeridiumcerinum组合。140-214m仅有很少疑源类标本,可能因为凯里组上部以白云岩为主,不适宜有机壁微体化石的保存。距凯里组底部往上约52m处疑源类组合出现重大变化,无疑为解释沉积环境提供重要资料。两疑源类组合间界线,位于52.3-52.7m,此稍低于被三叶虫Oryctocephalusindicus首现所指示的全球寒武系第5阶潜在层型剖面界线。     

黔东早—中寒武世凯里组疑源类组合及其界线意义

通过对台江八郎和丹寨两条剖面凯里组中疑源类化石的分析,研究,台江剖面产疑源类化石有17属35各（12未定种）,其中以Leiosphaeridia,Synsphareidium,Cymatiosphaera,Pterospermella最为丰富,可划分为3个组合,即Cymatiosphaera cf.cristata-Fimbriaglomerella memebrancea组合,Cristallinium-Micrhystridium-Pterospermella组合和Dictyotidium-Granomarginata组合,丹寨平寨剖面凯里组所产疑源类化石有：13属21种（5未定种）,同样划分为3个组合,即Leiosphaeridia-Tasmanites组合,Retisphaeridium-Micrhystridium tentatium组合和Baltisphaeridium-Bubomorpha hunjiangensis组合,本文对两条剖面中的凝源类化石的组成,相对含量做了详细的统计,发现在八郎剖面9－2层和平寨剖面3层疑源类的丰度,分异度开始发生明显的变化,表现由早寒武世向中寒武世疑源类组合面貌的转变,这一疑源类转变层位正好是与三叶虫划分的中,下寒武统界线的层位位置相一致,这充分表明疑源类化石可作为划分中,下寒武统的极有价值的微体生物化石证据。     

贵州早寒武世早期黑色页岩中藻类及其环境意义*

贵州早寒武世早期黑色页岩中发现了丰富的宏观藻类及疑源类化石。描述了两个宏观藻类组合 ,1新属 2新种。这些宏观藻类和疑源类化石在剖面上具有一定的分布规律 ,并伴随其它动物化石大量出现 ,两者关系密切。通过对早寒武世早期牛蹄塘组和九门冲组中生物化石的分布特征研究 ,发现在早寒武世早期海侵引起的缺氧环境背景下曾发生一次短暂的海洋充氧期 ,就在这期间生物非常繁盛 ,可能是继小壳动物之后古生代第二个生物繁盛期 ,比筇竹寺期的澄江动物群时代可能还老 ,对研究早期后生生物的起源、演化以及震旦纪 -寒武纪之交古海洋演变都具有重要意义。     

东秦岭北坡中元古代晚期微体生物群--一个早期生命的新窗口

山西南部永济地区位于东秦岭北坡 ,在该地区出露良好未变质的中—新元古代地层。在水幽剖面的中元古界汝阳群北大尖组中保存类型多样的微体化石 ,包括具刺疑源类 (Shuiyousphaeridium (Du)Yan ,emend .Yin ,1 997;TappaniaYin ,1 997) ,球形、舟形疑源类和多种带状、管状藻类化石。其大的膜壳 ,突起附属物 ,脱囊开口 ,以及同平面不规则分枝丝体等都显示了真核原生物的形态特征。线形和螺旋形微细管体和网状结构物首次见于部分带状丝体和膜状碎片 ,推测这些管状物是底栖藻类为适应干旱缺水环境而发育的输导或加固支撑的结构物。当前 ,以具刺疑源类Tappania为特征的相似微体化石组合相继在印度、澳大利亚南部中元古代地层中发现 ,揭示了约 1     

塔里木盆地西南缘晚泥盆世疑源类

塔里木盆地西南缘奇自拉夫组产疑源类６属１１种（含７个新种）,国内外晚泥盆世代表分子Ｇｏｒｇｏｎｉｓｐｈａｅｒｉｄｉｕｍｏｈｉｏｅｎｓｅ出现于当前疑源类组合,指示其时代应为晚泥盆世（Ｆａｍｅｎｎｉａｎ）;对疑源类的生态环境、围岩特征及同层其它生物群的综合分析,表明奇自拉夫组为海相近岸沉积。     

山东临沂寒武系朱砂洞组有机壁微体化石新发现

通过对山东临沂寒武系朱砂洞组页岩样品进行酸解浸泡分析处理,获得了数量丰富的、以隐孢子与疑源类化石标本共同出现的微体化石组合,为华北板块寒武系微体化石研究提供了新资料。隐孢子标本具有明显的寒武纪已知隐孢子形态特征,属种包括Adinosporus voluminosus,A. cf.bullatus,Adinosporus sp.,Vidalgea maculata;疑源类4属5种(含3个未定种),包括Asteridium tornatum,Heliosphaeridium obscurum,Leiosphaeridia sp.,Leiosphaeridia sp.A,Synsphaeridium sp.。上述微体化石组合特征进一步表明研究区在早寒武世中期为浅水的潮坪沉积环境,陆源物质的搬运可能导致了隐孢子在浅海相地层的出现,或者浅水潮坪环境适宜产出隐孢子的母体植物的繁衍。     

湖南张家界四都坪埃迪卡拉系陡山沱组微体化石新材料

首次描述并研究了在湖南张家界四都坪乡四都坪剖面埃迪卡拉系陡山沱组下部硅质条带和结核中发现的保存精美的微体化石。化石组合包括大型具刺疑源类Cavaspina acuminata,Cavaspina basiconica,Gyalosphaeridium sp.,Mengeosphaera latibasis,Tanarium varium,Tanariumsp.和Urasphaera fungiformis;球状化石Megasphaera inornata;球状、丝状蓝藻化石Archaeophycus yunnanensis,Polytrichoides sp.,Salome hubeiensis,Siphonophycus robustum,S.typicum,S.kestron,和S.solidum以及多细胞藻类Wengania minuta。该微体化石组合与湖北峡东地区陡山沱组三段硅质结核中以大型具刺疑源类Tanarium为特征的组合面貌基本一致。这些微体化石的发现,进一步完善了我国埃迪卡拉系(震旦系)陡山沱组的生物地层序列,也为华南扬子地区陡山沱组的地层对比提供了新的古生物证据。     

Late Devonian Acritarchs from the Gneudna formation in the Western Carnarvon basin,Western Australia

The Gneudna Formation is a Late Devonian(Frasnian) sequence of marine calcareous sediments that occurs in the Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia. The present palynological study is based upon subsurface silty strata from a borehole (Pelican Hill or Bibbawarra Bore) that was drilled early this century near the western coastal limit of the Carnarvon Basin.The subject strata have previously been attributed to the Gneudna Formation on lithostratigraphic grounds. They contain a rich and varied assemblage of marine microphytoplankton (acritarchs), associated with trilete miospores of which Geminospora lemurataBalme, 1962 is the dominant form. Forty-seven species of acritarchs are recognizable in the palynoflora, which corresponds very closely with that described recently (Playford & Dring, 1981) from the Gneudna Formation in the vicinity of its type section on the opposite (eastern) side of the Carnarvon Basin. The apparently parochial complexion of the Gneudna acritarch suite is probably illusory, insofar as early Late Devonian acritarchs have not been studied extensively or intensively from either the northern or southern hemispheres.The following new species of acritarchs areformally instituted herein: Elektoriskos villosa, Lophosphaeridium pelicanensis, and Pterospermella tenellula.     

Early post-mortem calcified Devonian acritarchs as a source of calcispheric structures

Uniquely preserved Late Devonian calcispheres were found in a core of the deep borehole Sosnowiec IG-1 (Upper Silesia, southern Poland). These enigmatic calcareous microfossils are interpreted here as acritarchs that underwent an early post-mortem calcification. Remnants of organic walls preserved in the calcispheres suggest that they represent various acanthomorphic acritarchs, characteristic members of the Palaeozoic marine phytoplankton. Taphonomic analysis combined with the light microscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations of mineral and organic components of the investigated calcispheres suggest that a complex multi-stage process led to calcification of their in vivo non-mineralized acritarch forerunners. The ubiquity of acanthomorphic calcispheres in many Devonian shallow-water limestones is a testimony to little, thus far, documented acritarch crops that must have existed over extensive areas of carbonate-producing epicontinental seas. The scarcity of acritarchs described from Devonian shallow-water limestones may thus represent a taphonomic bias rather than real rarity or absence.     

A SERIES OF MONOGRAPHS AND MEMOIRS (ISSN 0300-9491) TO SUPPLEMENT LETHAIA

Acid-resistant organic microfossils are described from outcrops and a boring through the middle and upper units of the VisingsÖ Beds in southern Sweden. 21 previously described acritarch species have been identified, and five new species are erected. The acritarchs include simple, although characteristically ornamented sphaeromorphs, one polygonomorph species and one acanthomorph species. Their mode of occurrence and possible lithofacial relationships are discussed. The acritarchs from the middle unit of the Visingso Beds indicate a Late Riphean age. The upper unit contains acritarchs previously known from Vendian and Lower Cambrian strata in the U.S.S.R., China and elsewhere. A Vendian age is suggested for this unit. A glacial origin is suggested for boulder beds in the middle unit of the VisingsÖ Beds.     

Palynostratigraphy and palaeogeography of the Padeha, Khoshyeilagh, and Mobarak formations in the eastern Alborz Range (Kopet-Dagh region), northeastern Iran

A total of 113 surface samples collected from the Padeha, Khoshyeilagh, and Mobarak formations of Kuh-e-Ozum, northeast of Jajarm town were processed for palynomorphs, in order to determine age relationships. Well-preserved and abundant palynomorphs dominated by organic-walled-marine microphytoplankton (acritarchs and prasinophyte phycomata), miospores and subordinate chitinozoans, and scolecodonts were recovered. Seven species of prasinophyte phycomata (four genera), 19 acritarch species (14 genera), one species of chitinozoa, and 26 miospore species (19 genera) were recorded and assigned to eight local Assemblage Zones. Assemblage Zones I-IV occur in the Padeha Formation and suggest an Early Late Devonian (Frasnian) age whilst assemblages zones V-VII are present in the Khoshyeilagh Formation and indicate Late Devonian (Famennian) ages. Assemblage zone VIII, which occurs in the basal part of Mobarak Formation, suggests a Lower Mississippian (Tournaisian) age for this formation. Many of the palynomorph groups encountered are closely comparable with coeval assemblages recorded from Western Australia, southwest Ireland, England, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, North Africa, and South America, indicating the close relationship of the Iranian Platform to other parts of the northern Gondwana Domain during the time interval represented by these strata. The presence of marine palynomorphs (acritarchs/prasinophyte phycomata, chitinozoans, and scolecodonts), and shelly macrofauna (brachiopods, gastropods, and corals) in Member c of the Padeha Formation (as well as the Khoshyeilagh and Mobarak formations), together with associated miospores, indicate an open marine (moderately nearshore) depositional environment for the Upper Devonian and Lower Carboniferous deposits in northeastern Alborz Range (Kopet-Dagh region) of Iran.     

ACRITARCHSA REVIEW

1. Acritarchs are a polyphyletic group of unicellular organisms, essentially marine and fossil, with a very resistant organic membrane; the majority probably represent the cysts of microscopic, extinct eukaryote algae. This review gives a general account for the non-specialist of their characteristics and affinities, but focuses, using selected examples, on their role as biostratigraphic tools for the specialist. 2. Invisible to the naked eye, up to several tens of thousands of acritarchs per gram of rock may be extracted and concentrated from a wide variety of sediments, especially argillaceous or even calcareous, but preferably fine-grained, unweathered and only slightly recrystallized or metamorphosed. 3. Always hollow and without unequivocal intracellular structures, acritarchs are extremely variable inoverall size, from a few to several hundred μm, with numerous divergent morphological modifications from a basic spherical form; the type and development of ornamentation; the number of cellular walls; and the method of opening, attributed to excystment. Acritarchs are classified according to criteria that are relatively simple compared with the modern demands of phycologists. For convenience they are treated under the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, recognizing the existence of form genera of uncertain position. The lack of a comprehensive taxonomic framework is not surprising, given the number and variety of unclassifiable microorganisms resistant to HF that may be included in the acritarchs. 4. The sporopollenin-like wall of acritarchs, like the sporopollenin of modern plants, is chemically very inert except to oxidation, carbonization and bacterial or fungal activity. Of poorly-known composition but very probably including highly polymerized polyterpenes, it may form an abundant component of Palaeozoic kerogen, a potential source of hydrocarbons. The codification of colour changes and preservation in selected acritarchs may enable the optical evaluation of palaeotemperatures lower than about 120–150 °C and of the degree of maturity of possible oils. 5. The first known acritarchs sensu stricto, although discovered in 1862, were designated as such in 1963, after having been given a variety of names reflecting mainly assessments of their biological affinities. In spite of some attempts to abandon it, the name acritarch is still the most correct as it is the least ambiguous for designating the great majority of examples. 6. The reclassifying of acritarchs among microorganisms of known systematic position remains speculative or tentative. It is possible that many acritarchs represent cysts of extinct dinoflagellates, without archaeopyle or indication of a stable tabulation. Laboratory culture of Pterosperma has shown that Cymatiosphaera and Pterospermella have to be considered not as acritarchs but as phycoma of prasinophytes. The ultrastructure of the wall in Tasmanites is similar to that of Pachysphaera, another recent prasinophyte. Comparisons with euglenoids or spore-like bodies of the first terrestrial plants are indirect and that with eggs of recent crustaceans remains fortuitous. 7. The composition of live acritarch assemblages is most often heavily biased in taphocoenosis. In fact, because of their very small size and low density, these microfossils are frequently found reworked in strata younger than those in which they were originally deposited. If their distributions are sufficiently documented, they can be useful as provenance indicators in palaeogeographic reconstructions. 8. Acritarchs' mode of life is thought to be best compared with that of planktonic photosynthetic algae. General schemes seeking to explain variations in their abundance and distribution in deposits formed during the distant geological past are based especially on extrapolations from complex combinations of factors that govern the distribution of modern marine phytoplankton. 9. With a worldwide geographic distribution and a record only partly influenced by facies control, the acritarchs exhibit, geologically speaking, an extraordinarily long life span, from the Mesoproterozoic to the present day. In spite of the examples of reworking, rarely objectively verifiable, and the still relatively small number of detailed data with reliable independent age control, it is known that acritarchs, among a great number of ubiquitous forms, include time index taxa whose levels of appearance permit the calibration of very remote geological time and the establishment of regional or global correlations. These biostratigraphic indices, certainly present in the Neoproterozoic but still little known, are best demonstrated from around the beginning of the Cambrian to slightly before the end of the Upper Devonian, a time of maximum abundance and diversity for the group. At the beginning of the Early Cambrian in the East European Platform, and probably slightly above the international systemic boundary, drawn at the appearance of the ichnofossil Phycodes pedum in eastern Newfoundland, the acritarchs display a radiation of original diversity which occurs at three levels and contrasts with the worldwide impoverished sphaeromorph assemblages of the latest subjacent Neoproterozoic. The first level is marked especially by the appearance of Annulum squamaceum, the second by the diversification of Comasphaeridium, and the third, which is the clearest and most geographically widespread, by the appearance of Skiagia orbicularis, S. ornata and S. scottica, which coincides approximately with that of the trilobites. The Cambrian-Ordovician boundary is not yet agreed internationally but should be near the appearance of the Cordylodus lindstromi conodont Biozone, slightly below the first occurrence of nematophorous planktonic graptolites. Corollasphaeridium wilcoxianum is the index acritarch whose appearance is closest to, and slightly below, this boundary, in the upper part of the Cordylodus proavus Biozone. The species enters at this level in the north Sino-Korean Platform (Jilin province) and northern Laurentia (Alberta). It has not been recorded in Baltica, Avalonia and Gondwana, where the acritarch assemblages are better documented, more varied and different on the whole from those of northeastern China and western Canada. With reservations, it may be that in marine deposits associated with these three palaeocontinents, the lower limit of the range of Acanthodiacrodium angustum is located within the Cordylodus proavus Biozone. In the Late Devonian, the Frasnian—Famennian boundary is fixed internationally by means of conodonts, at the base of the Early Palmatolepis triangularis Biozone, which succeeds the Palmatolepis linguiformis Biozone. Regionally, in the Dinant Basin, Belgium, no index acritarch is known to appear at the base of the Lower Famennian. On the other hand, at Senzeilles the appearances of Visbysphaera?occulta and of Ephelopalla media occur successively at the end of the Frasnian in deposits undated by means of conodonts but attributable to the end of the late Palmatolepis zhenana Biozone and to the P. linguiformis Biozone. In the course of the upper Famennian, and from the end of the Late Devonian onwards, known assemblages are essentially sporadic, unvaried and of reduced or local stratigraphic value. The last species that is autochthonous, morphologically unmistakable and of worldwide distribution appears in the middle Neogene (Ypresian).     

燕山地区青白口系疑源类

采用浸渍方法在中国北部燕山地区青白口系中发现大量疑源类,共计47属148种。疑源类的大量繁衍代表当时古地理环境为海域广阔、盐度正常的浅水海相沉积。青白口系(800—900Ma)疑源类主要特征:以单球藻类的大量繁衍并伴有多球藻类的分子;在线形藻类中有带状和管状的藻类,以宽度大、数量多为主要特征。其次由多个球形细胞组成的藻丝体;有少量船形藻类的分子出现;800—900Ma之间微生物群主要由下列类型组成:Mi-crococentrica,Satka,Symplasosphaeridium,Synsphaeridium,Chuaria,Statimophada,Tasmanites,Siphono-phycus,Taeniatum等属的分子。以上疑源类的稳定性和可比性,可作为具有广泛生物地层对比依据。     

A statistical approach to classification of the Cambro–Ordovician galeate acritarch plexus

The investigation of large populations of galeate acritarchs recovered from the Late Cambrian to Early Ordovician of the Algerian Sahara allows the definition of 11 morphological criteria which may be useful for the differentiation of individual morphotypes. These parameters have been used for statistical analyses to understand better the classification of this important acritarch plexus. Following a critical evaluation of all parameters, five of them can be retained for multivariate and cluster analyses. The current taxonomic model, with a differentiation into the four genera Caldariola, Cymatiogalea, Priscogalea and Stelliferidium, cannot be maintained. The most important variables appear to be the process length and the presence/absence of ramifications of the distal end of the processes. A provisional four cluster model is proposed to classify the galeate acritarchs from the Algerian assemblages. This study is a first step in the process of investigating the potential use of multivariate statistics in galeate acritarch classification and may serve as a model for future studies to understand acritarch taxonomy.     

Fossil microphytoplankton dynamics across the Ordovician–Silurian boundary

A critical review of all available data on acritarch biostratigraphy and diversity dynamics across the Late Ordovician through the early Silurian, permits a better appreciation of the potential of acritarchs for the recognition of the systemic boundary. This analysis also reveals the response of marine microphytoplankton populations to the Late Ordovician palaeoenvironmental crisis (Hirnantian glaciation). Previous zonal schemes are improved, and an updated acritarch biostratigraphic chart is proposed, plotted against the most recent chronostratigraphic subdivisions. Sections from Anticosti Island (Québec, Canada), Algeria, Morocco, and Estonia preserve the best palynological record for the investigated interval. The present analysis shows that no true mass-extinction event occurred in latest Ordovician times in connection with the well known glacial event. “Pre-glacial” Ashgill acritarch suites are dominated by species of Baltisphaeridium, Multiplicisphaeridium, Ordovicidium, Orthosphaeridium, and netromorph acritarchs. An important proportion of these taxa (excluding Ordovicidium and Orthosphaeridium) survive the onset of glacial conditions in Hirnantian (latest Ordovician) times and continues through the early Silurian. The development of morphological polymorphism appears as a response (a survival strategy?) to the establishment of glacial conditions.In glacial-related sediments of Hirnantian age in North Africa, acritarch assemblages display a burst of relative abundance and intra-specific morphological variability (polymorphism) of long-ranging taxa such as Veryhachium, Multiplicisphaeridium, Dactylofusa, Poikilofusa, and Evittia. The extinction of several species characteristic of Upper to uppermost Ordovician strata occurs near the boundary, in “post-glacial” Ashgill (uppermost Hirnantian). This extinction event is counterbalanced by the almost contemporaneous (within the limits of stratigraphic resolution) appearance of several new taxa showing already a clear “Silurian affinity”, e.g., Tylotopalla, Cymbosphaeridium, and Visbysphaera. This origination event is observable in, and correlatable between the North African, the Bohemian and the Anticosti sections, making it global in extent.The completion of the palynological turnover and the establishment of a diverse Silurian acritarch suite occurs well above the base of the Silurian, during Aeronian times. The strong survival capability of the oceanic plankton through periods of palaeoenvironmental crisis in latest Ordovician times (but also throughout the Phanerozoic) could have played an important role in the post-extinction rebounds of metazoan clades, by assuring the continuity of marine trophic resources to consumers and avoiding irreversible disruptions of the trophic chains.     

Diverse small spinose acritarchs from the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation, South China

The Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation in South China is underlain by the Cryogenian Nantuo Formation (glacial rocks) and overlain by the late Ediacaran Dengying Formation. It is characterized by well-preserved, large (normally >100 μm in size) spinose acritarchs (LSAs), which have been shown to be probably the only useful biostratigraphic tool for the global correlation of the early- and middle-Ediacaran. Acritarchs are organic microfossils normally known as single-celled eukaryotic organisms (protists). Although recent research suggests that some large spinose acritarchs may represent diapause egg cysts of metazoans, the biological affinities of the Ediacaran spinose acritarchs, especially for those displaying remarkable size ranges, are still debatable.Recently, smaller specimens of the Ediacaran spinose acritarchs have been found in cherts and phosphorites of the Doushantuo Formation in South China. Many described Ediacaran spinose acritarch taxa display large size variation (from tens to hundreds of microns in vesicle diameter), but some taxa only have smaller (<70 μm) specimens. The morphological comparison with Paleozoic counterparts indicates that some Ediacaran spinose acritarchs may have phylogenetic affinity to eukaryotic algae. More evidence, including wall ultra-structure, geochemical analysis and comparison with modern analogs, is needed to understand the biological affinity of the Ediacaran spinose acritarchs. The remarkable radiation of planktonic protists, characterized by abundant, diverse spinose acritarchs, occurred as early as in the late Neoproterozoic, i.e., 40–60 million years earlier than previously thought.