Silurian fungal remains: probable records of the Class Ascomycetes

Among the abundant plant microfossils obtained from the late Silurian Burgsvik Sandstone are spores and filaments whose morphology suggests a fungal origin. These include large multiseptate spores resembling conidia of present-day Fungi Imperfecti; ovate, reniform, rugulately ornamented unicellular spores; branched filaments with perforate septa; and filaments with flask-shaped appendages resembling phialides. We suggest that these microfossils represent the remains of the imperfect stages of terrestrial Ascomycetes, and provide evidence for an origin of this group at least contemporaneous with the earliest land plants. Larger, ovoid and cylindrical heterogeneous bodies composed of hyphal fragments resemble the fecal pellets of mycophagous microarthropods. The implications of these in terms of early terrestrial ecosystems are discussed.     

浅议峡东陡山沱组的“瓶状微化石”

通过对峡东晚震旦世陡山沱组岩石样品的化学浸解处理、连续切片研究及大量薄片观察,作者认为先前报道的陡山沱组“瓶状微化石”,即所谓最古老的原生动物的外壳遗骸,实际上并非什么瓶状微化石,而是一种有蓝藻（可能还有细菌）参与的沉积构造。     

河北兴隆中元古代古海底黑烟囱中微生物化石的发现及其意义

采用显微镜以及扫描电镜对冀东中元古代块状硫化物黑烟囱样品进行研究,首次发现了矿化微生物化石。它们为丝状体,均已黄铁矿化,经过激光拉曼光谱测试发现还保留少量有机质,可以与现代海底黑烟囱周围矿化微生物对比。这些化石微生物的鉴别基于大小、形状和群落聚集等物理标志。     

Pyritisation of plant microfossils from the Devonian Hunsrück Slate of Germany

The extraordinary pyritised fossils of the Hunsrück Slate of Germany provide critical information on marine life in the Devonian. Evidence for terrestrial life is confined mainly to rare incomplete plant macrofossils, often of uncertain affinity. The discovery of plant microfossils preserved as pyrite in-fills of cells with decay-resistant organic walls provides additional evidence of life on land around the margins of the Hunsrück Slate sea. The microfossils include groups of elongate water-conducting cells: some show annular or helical indentations which represent thickenings of the original cell wall, others show casts of bordered pits. Spores, possible sporangia, and marine acritarchs are also present. In most cases pyritisation was rapid enough to prevent collapse of the cells, and they retain their original 3-dimensionality. Wall structures subsequently decayed except where they were resistant enough to survive as an organic residue.     

New preparation techniques for molecular and in‐situ analysis of ancient organic micro‐ and nanostructures

Organic microfossils preserved in three dimensions in transparent mineral matrices such as cherts/quartzites, phosphates, or carbonates are best studied in petrographic thin sections. Moreover, microscale mass spectrometry techniques commonly require flat, polished surfaces to minimize analytical bias. However, contamination by epoxy resin in traditional petrographic sections is problematic for the geochemical study of the kerogen in these microfossils and more generally for the in situ analysis of fossil organic matter. Here, we show that epoxy contamination has a molecular signature that is difficult to distinguish from kerogen with time‐of‐flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF‐SIMS). This contamination appears pervasive in organic microstructures embedded in micro‐ to nano‐crystalline carbonate. To solve this problem, a new semi‐thin section preparation protocol without resin medium was developed for micro‐ to nanoscale in situ investigation of insoluble organic matter. We show that these sections are suited for microscopic observation of Proterozoic microfossils in cherts. ToF‐SIMS reveals that these sections are free of pollution after final removal of a <10 nm layer of contamination using low‐dose ion sputtering. ToF‐SIMS maps of fragments from aliphatic and aromatic molecules and organic sulfur are correlated with the spatial distribution of organic microlaminae in a Jurassic stromatolite. Hydrocarbon‐derived ions also appeared correlated with kerogenous microstructures in Archean cherts. These developments in analytical procedures should help future investigations of organic matter and in particular, microfossils, by allowing the spatial correlation of microscopy, spectroscopy, precise isotopic microanalyses, and novel molecular microanalyses such as ToF‐SIMS.     

A DISCUSSION AND PROPOSAL CONCERNING THE USE OF THE TERM CALCISPHERES

Abstract:  The terminology and grouping of spherical, calcareous microfossils of unknown biological affinity, usually referred to as calcispheres, are diffuse. The term calcispheres is inconsistently used, the morphological and taxonomical concepts are mostly ill-defined and a formal definition is lacking. To resolve this issue, we propose, in analogy with the erection of the Acritarcha for organic microfossils of unknown origin, a new group called Calcitarcha, including all calcareous microfossils with a central cavity for which the biological affinities remain unknown.     

Infrared video microscopy—an efficient-method for the routine investigation of opaque organic-walled microfossils

Summary Dark or even opaque organic-walled microfossils are frequently represented in palynological residues which are derived from sediments of high maturity. Such particles may be studied surficially by SEM or incident light, but internal details remain obscured. It has been known for some time that transparency may be achieved by applying infrared microscopy, but the method never became routine. We have now assembled an IR equipment which is based on a regular transmitted light microscope and tested our setup on various kinds of palyno-morphse.g. spores, acritarchs, chitinozoans, scolecodonts as well as phytoclasts and zooclasts. Our examples are from several localities of different stratigraphic and palaeogeographic position within the Palaeozoic. The studies revealed a high potential for IR video microscopy to become an important tool in the study of thermally altered organic particles in palynological slides.     

A Fossilized Microcenosis In Triassic Amber

ABSTRACT Detailed data on bacterial and protistan microfossils are presented from a 0.003 mm³ piece of Triassic amber (Schlierseerit, Upper Triassic period, 220-230 million years old). This microcenosis, which actually existed as such within a very small, probably semiaquatic habitat, included the remains of about two bacteria species, four fungi ( Palaeodikaryomyces baueri, Pithomyces -like conidia, capillitium-like hyphae, yeast cells) two euglenoids, two chlamydomonas ( Chlamydomonas sp., Chloromonas sp.), two coccal green microalgae ( Chlorella sp., Choricystis -like cells), one zooflagellate, three testate amoebae ( Centropyxis aculeata var. oblonga-like, Cyclopyxis eurystoma -like, Hyalosphenia baueri n. sp.), seven ciliates ( Pseudoplaryophrya nana -like, Mykophagophrys terricola -like, Cyrtolophosis mucicola -like, Paracondylostoma sp., Bryometopus triquetrus -like. Tetrahymena rostrata -like, Paramecium triassicum n. sp.) the microfossils correspond to or diverge from extant species only slightly.     

The role of clay minerals in the preservation of Precambrian organic-walled microfossils

Precambrian organic-walled microfossils (OWMs) are primarily preserved in mudstones and shales that are low in total organic carbon (TOC). Recent work suggests that high TOC may hinder OWM preservation, perhaps because it interferes with chemical interactions involving certain clay minerals that inhibit the decay of microorganisms. To test if clay mineralogy controls OWM preservation, and if TOC moderates the effect of clay minerals, we compared OWM preservational quality (measured by pitting on fossil surfaces and the deterioration of wall margins) to TOC, total clay, and specific clay mineral concentrations in 78 shale samples from 11 lithologic units ranging in age from ca. 1650 to 650 million years ago. We found that the probability of finding well-preserved microfossils positively correlates with total clay concentrations and confirmed that it negatively correlates with TOC concentrations. However, we found no evidence that TOC influences the effect of clay mineral concentrations on OWM preservation, supporting an independent role of both factors on preservation. Within the total clay fraction, well-preserved microfossils are more likely to occur in shales with high illite concentrations and low berthierine/chamosite concentrations; however, the magnitude of their effect on preservation is small. Therefore, there is little evidence that bulk clay chemistry is important in OWM preservation. Instead, we propose that OWM preservation is largely regulated by physical properties that isolate organic remains from microbial degradation such as food scarcity (low TOC) and low sediment permeability (high total clay content): low TOC increases the diffusive distances between potential carbon sources and heterotrophic microbes (or their degradative enzymes), while high clay concentrations reduce sediment pore space, thereby limiting the diffusion of oxidants and degradative enzymes to the sites of decay.     

Early Cambrian small carbonaceous fossils (SCFs) from an impact crater in western Finland

We describe an assemblage of small carbonaceous fossils (SCFs) and acritarchs from cored siltstones of the Lappajärvi impact structure, west‐central Finland. Previous studies had detected a depauperate acritarch biota ascribed to a deep Proterozoic origin—this age, however, was based on recovery of long‐ranging poorly age‐diagnostic sphaeromorphs. To resolve the age and provenance of these crater sediments, we applied low‐manipulation processing techniques optimized for retrieval of larger organic‐walled microfossils. Our study revealed a previously undetected assemblage containing numerous metazoan SCFs consisting of flattened ‘protoconodonts’ (grasping spines assignable to total group Chaetognatha) and a distinctive fossilised chaeta, possibly representing the oldest known annelid remains. Phylogenetically problematic fossils include various acritarchs (large Leiosphaeridia sp., Tasmanites tenellus, smaller sphaeromorphs, Synsphaeridium, Archaeodiscina and Granomarginata) and filamentous forms (Palaeolyngbya‐ and Rugosoopsis‐like filaments, Siphonophycus), likely representing prokaryotic or protistan grades of organisation. As well as adding new diversity to an emerging SCFs record, these data substantially refine the age of these sediments by more than half a billion years, to an early Cambrian Terreneuvian age. More specifically, the assemblage is equivalent to that of the Lontova Formation from the Baltic States and northwest Russia, but is previously unreported from Finland. Identification of Lontova‐type SCFs/organic‐walled microfossils at Lappajärvi further constrains the poorly resolved extent of maximum flooding during the early Cambrian in Baltica. Renewed attention should be directed to strata that have thus far produced only biostratigraphically long‐ranging or ambiguous palynological assemblages—‘SCF‐style’ processing can reveal hitherto undetected, age‐informative microfossils that are otherwise selectively removed in conventional palynological studies.     

Microfossils from the middle Precambrian McArthur Group,Northern Territory,Australia

Microfossils have been detected in several formations of the McArthur Group (about 1600 m.y. old), in petrological thin sections and in macerations. Some of these occur associated with a lead-zinc ore body; others have been found in well-preserved dolomites and cherts. The variety of microfossils observed is considerable, and their state of preservation is good. Large numbers of singlecelled, colonial and multicellular organisms occur; in the latter, at least one clear case of cell differentiation can be demonstrated. Some of the organisms are morphologically comparable with blue-green algae such as the Chroococaceae, but, unlike the well-known Bitter Springs microflora, the assemblage is notably poor in filamentous algae. The filaments that do occur are not septate, and may represent discarded blue-green algal sheaths. Many of the microorganisms are extremely small in size, and in some cases, colonial structures composed of large numbers of 1 m diameter cells are present, that may represent bacterial remains. Most of the microfossils occur in stromatolitic cherts, but the lead-zinc orebody from which some were obtained is a fine-grained dolomitic shale.Stratigraphically, this new assemblage occurs in sediments of age intermediate between the well-known Gunflint Chert assemblage and the equally well-known Bitter Springs flora. The level of organization of the microfossils represents a great advance on the of the Gunflint Chert microfossils, in that demonstrably colonial and large multicellular microorganisms occur, as well as cells of a relatively large size. No convincing evidence for the presence of nuclei or nuclear membranes has yet been found in McArthur Group microorganisms, but the large size and organizational complexity of some of the structures suggests that the origin of the eukaryotic cell may occur rather earlier in geologic times than previous indications have suggested.     

西伯利亚西部侏罗纪植物微体化石的热变质作用

研究了西伯利亚西部几个地点钻孔侏罗纪岩芯样中的植物微体化石。在有关组合中,Lycopodium sp., Coniopteris spp.和Gleicheniidites sp.的孢子少,Klukiasporites sp.极少;代表性花为有Pinus exilioides,P.disulgaus,sciadopites sp.和Classopollis;微体浮游植物占优势,例如Crassisphaera sp.,Tasmanites sp.,Pterospermopsis eurypteris. P.harti和Cymatiosphaera sp.颇丰富,有时出现Pareodinia sp.和Trichodinium sp.。虽然各个组合中孢子、花粉、微体浮游植物在含量上有变化,但总的组成在西伯利亚西部不同地区尚稳定,此等微化石的颜色或有变化,它们（特别是微体浮游植物）可用来检测沉积有机质受热变质的成熟度级别。     

透射电子显微镜(TEM)在孢粉学研究中的应用

透射电子显微镜作为常规的显微镜工具,已被广泛运用于观察研究生物组织超微构造,20世纪60年代开始在生物化石的研究中得到应用,特别是孢粉学,如大孢子、花粉、疑源类等的研究。通过对处理后的化石样品进行超薄切片,可观察到生物组织中保存下来的有机质壁及内含物的显微构造,对孢粉系统分类学及个体发育学的研究有重要的作用。即使是古生代的或更早期的生物样品也有一些保存下来的有价值的组织可供于超微构造的研究,只是样品在进行前期处理及超薄切片过程中会遇到一些技术问题。文章简要阐述这些具体技术问题。     

北京延庆地区雾迷山组燧石相微体古生物研究

本文报道的微体化石产于北京延庆地区雾迷山组中的燧石相岩层中,共鉴定出10个属19个种,其中含1个新种,3个未定种,以及2个相似种。化石类型以蓝细菌中的颤藻科、念珠藻科和色球藻科属种为主,还保存有少量绿藻和大量分类位置未定的藻类。新的化石资料必将进一步丰富燕山雾迷山组的微化石群的内容,并为进一步评价雾迷山组微化石的生物演化和多样性的水平,及其生物地层意义提供更充分的依据。     

Filamentous sulfur bacteria preserved in modern and ancient phosphatic sediments: implications for the role of oxygen and bacteria in phosphogenesis

Marine phosphate‐rich sedimentary deposits (phosphorites) are important geological reservoirs for the biologically essential nutrient phosphorous. Phosphorites first appear in abundance approximately 600 million years ago, but their proliferation at that time is poorly understood. Recent marine phosphorites spatially correlate with the habitats of vacuolated sulfide‐oxidizing bacteria that store polyphosphates under oxic conditions to be utilized under sulfidic conditions. Hydrolysis of the stored polyphosphate results in the rapid precipitation of the phosphate‐rich mineral apatite—providing a mechanism to explain the association between modern phosphorites and these bacteria. Whether sulfur bacteria were important to the formation of ancient phosphorites has been unresolved. Here, we present the remains of modern sulfide‐oxidizing bacteria that are partially encrusted in apatite, providing evidence that bacterially mediated phosphogenesis can rapidly permineralize sulfide‐oxidizing bacteria and perhaps other types of organic remains. We also describe filamentous microfossils that resemble modern sulfide‐oxidizing bacteria from two major phosphogenic episodes in the geologic record. These microfossils contain sulfur‐rich inclusions that may represent relict sulfur globules, a diagnostic feature of modern sulfide‐oxidizing bacteria. These findings suggest that sulfur bacteria, which are known to mediate the precipitation of apatite in modern sediments, were also present in certain phosphogenic settings for at least the last 600 million years. If polyphosphate‐utilizing sulfide‐oxidizing bacteria also played a role in the formation of ancient phosphorites, their requirements for oxygen, or oxygen‐requiring metabolites such as nitrate, might explain the temporal correlation between the first appearance of globally distributed marine phosphorites and increasing oxygenation of Neoproterozoic oceans.     

High-temperature, acid-hydrolyzed remains of Polytrichum (Musci, Polytrichaceae) resemble enigmatic Silurian-Devonian tubular microfossils

Gametophytes and sporophyte components of two species of the evolutionarily early-divergent moss Polytrichum were separately subjected to high-temperature acid hydrolysis, and remains were examined by fluorescence microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Remains included fragments of capsule, seta, leaves, stems, and calyptra. Cell walls of all remains were autofluorescent in violet and UV excitation, suggesting occurrence of resistant polyphenolic compounds. Calyptras of both species dissociated into smooth- walled, acutely branched filamentous associations of tubular cells with distinctively thickened cell junctions. In these aspects and measurements of wall dimensions made from SEMs, the hydrolysis-resistant Polytrichum calyptra remains were similar to several tubular microfossils described from Silurian and Lower Devonian deposits, whose provenance is unknown or ascribed to fungi. Our data suggest the possibility that at least some ancient tubular microfossils might have originated from Polytrichum-like early mosses. They add to increasing evidence that bryophytes left microfossil evidence for their presence millions of years earlier than is indicated by their macrofossil record.     

Snapshot of an early Paleoproterozoic ecosystem: Two diverse microfossil communities from the Turee Creek Group,Western Australia

Eighteen microfossil morphotypes from two distinct facies of black chert from a deep‐water setting of the c. 2.4 Ga Turee Creek Group, Western Australia, are reported here. A primarily in situ, deep‐water benthic community preserved in nodular black chert occurs as a tangled network of a variety of long filamentous microfossils, unicells of one size distribution and fine filamentous rosettes, together with relatively large spherical aggregates of cells interpreted as in‐fallen, likely planktonic, forms. Bedded black cherts, in contrast, preserve microfossils primarily within, but also between, rounded clasts of organic material that are coated by thin, convoluted carbonaceous films interpreted as preserved extracellular polymeric substance (EPS). Microfossils preserved within the clasts include a wide range of unicells, both much smaller and larger than those in the nodular black chert, along with relatively short, often degraded filaments, four types of star‐shaped rosettes and umbrella‐like rosettes. Large, complexly branching filamentous microfossils are found between the clasts. The grainstone clasts in the bedded black chert are interpreted as transported from shallower water, and the contained microfossils thus likely represent a phototrophic community. Combined, the two black chert facies provide a snapshot of a microbial ecosystem spanning shallow to deeper‐water environments, and an insight into the diversity of life present during the rise in atmospheric oxygen. The preserved microfossils include two new, distinct morphologies previously unknown from the geological record, as well as a number of microfossils from the bedded black chert that are morphologically similar to—but 400–500 Ma older than—type specimens from the c. 1.88 Ga Gunflint Iron Formation. Thus, the Turee Creek Group microfossil assemblage creates a substantial reference point in the sparse fossil record of the earliest Paleoproterozoic and demonstrates that microbial life diversified quite rapidly after the end of the Archean.     

Bacterial paleontology of the Neoarchean banded iron formations of Karelia and the Kola Peninsula

Probable microfossils, presumably of bacterial origin, were found in the banded iron formations of Karelia and the Kola Peninsula. The age of these formations is 2.7–2.8 Ga. Based on the organic carbon content and balance estimations it was established that these banded iron formations were deposited in environments rich in organic matter. Comparative analysis of the morphology of Recent and Neoarchean microorganisms suggests a bacterial origin for some magnetite in the studied quartzites.     

Aeroterrestrial Coleochaete (Streptophyta, Coleochaetales) models early plant adaptation to land

? Premise of the study: The streptophyte water-to-land transition was a pivotal, but poorly understood event in Earth history. While some early-diverging modern streptophyte algae are aeroterrestrial (living in subaerial habitats), aeroterrestrial survival had not been tested for Coleochaete, widely regarded as obligately aquatic and one of the extant green algal genera most closely related to embryophytes. This relationship motivated a comparison of aeroterrestrial Coleochaete to lower Paleozoic microfossils whose relationships have been uncertain. ? Methods: We tested the ability of two species of the experimentally tractable, complex streptophyte algal genus Coleochaete Bréb. to (1) grow and reproduce when cultivated under conditions that mimic humid subaerial habitats, (2) survive desiccation for some period of time, and (3) produce degradation-resistant remains comparable to enigmatic Cambrian microfossils. ? Key results: When grown on mineral agar media or on quartz sand, both species displayed bodies structurally distinct from those expressed in aquatic habitats. Aeroterrestrial Coleochaete occurred as hairless, multistratose, hemispherical bodies having unistratose lobes or irregular clusters of cells with thick, layered, and chemically resistant walls that resemble certain enigmatic lower Paleozoic microfossils. Whether grown under humid conditions or air-dried for a week, then exposed to liquid water, aeroterrestrial Coleochaete produced typical asexual zoospores and germlings. Cells that had been air-dried for periods up to several months maintained their integrity and green pigmentation. ? Conclusions: Features of modern aeroterrestrial Coleochaete suggest that ancient complex streptophyte algae could grow and reproduce in moist subaerial habitats, persist through periods of desiccation, and leave behind distinctive microfossil remains.