Are the new Ediacaran Doushantuo Megasphaera-like acritarchs early metazoans? |
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Institution: | NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering, National University of Singapore, 8 Medical Drive, 117597 Singapore |
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Abstract: | A recent report by Chen et al. (2014) describes the new Ediacaran Doushantuo acritarchs with fascinating features. Nested within Megaclonophycus-like fossils that exhibit palintomic cell division are multicellular spheroid structures termed matryoshkas, which are interpreted to be germ cells. Such distinctive features of cellular differentiation and germ-soma separation suggest affinities of these with early stem group metazoans. In this commentary, I suggest some alternative interpretations to those elaborated by Chen et al. (2014). |
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Keywords: | Ediacaran Matryoshkas Metazoan |
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