Paleobiology of the Neoproterozoic Svanbergfjellet Formation, Spitsbergen

A fossil Lagerstätte from the 700–750 Ma old Svanbergfjellet Formation of northeastern Spitsbergen offers a substantially enhanced view of late Proterozoic paleobiology. Fossils occur primarily as Organic-walled compressions in shales and permineralizations in chert: secondary modes of preservation include bedding-plane imprints and mineral replacements in apatite and goethite (?). The depositional setting of all fossiliferous horizons is broadly peritidal with highest taxonomic diversity occurring in shallow subtidal settings; the details of included fossil assemblages contribute to improved paleoecological resolution. The often distinct constituents of shale-and chert-hosted fossil assemblages appear to be a product of both paleoenvironment and fundamentally dissimilar taphonomic pathways, such that only forms with inferred wide ecological tolerance appear in both. Consideration of taphonomic processes also provides a variety of useful taxonomic insights, on the one hand permitting some resolution of so-called wastebasket taxa. such as Chuaria, and on the other acknowledging the taxonomic disparity that can occur in simple forms like Siphonophycus and Oscillatoriopsis. True multicellular (including coenocytic) eukaryotes are a conspicuous Component of the Svanbergfjellet assemblage: of eight distinct taxa, one can be identified as a coenobial/colonial chlorococcalean and three as filamentous siphonocladaleans (Chlorophyta). Other forms are problematic, but several show significant cell, or possibly tissue, differentiation. A review of Proterozoic multicellular organisms reveals that a coenocytic grade of organization was common among early metaphytes and supports the view (that a cellularity is a derived condition in many ‘multicellular’ lineages. Nineteen acritarch taxa are preserved in the Svanbergfjellet sediments. Ten of these show a readily identifiable ornamentation and contribute significantly to Neoproterozoic biostratigraphy; a world-wide and exclusively Late Riphean distribution of the acanthomorph Trachyhystrichosphaera aimika identifies it as a particularly valuable index fossil. The Svanbergfjellel fossil assemblage preserves a total of 63 distinct forms, of which 56 are treated taxonomically. As much as possible, principles of ‘natural’ taxonomy are applied, such that taphonomic and ontogenetic variants are declined separate taxonomy status. Major taxonomic revisions are offered for the acritarchs Trachyhystrichosphaera and Chuaria as well as for the prokaryotic-grade filaments: Cephalonyx, Cyanonema, Oscillatoriopsis, Palaeolyngbya, Rugossopsis, Siphonophycus, Tortunema, and Veteronostocale. Newly erected taxa include 7 new genera: Palaeastrum. Proterocladus, Pseudotawuia, Valkyria, Cerebrosphaera, Osculosphera and Pseudodendron; 14 new species in 12 genera: Palaestrum ***dyptocranum, Proterocladus major, Proterocladus minor, Proterocladus ***hermannae. Pseudodendron birenifera, Valkyria borealis, Cerebrosphaera buickii, Osculosphaera hyaline, Pseudodendron anteridium fullerne, Germinosphaera jankauskasii, Trachyhystrichosphaera polaris, Siphonophycus thulenema and thulenema and Digitus adumbrates 7 new combinations: Leiosphaeridia wimanii, Eoentophysalis croxfordii Cephlonyx geminatus. Oscillatoriopsis amadeus. Siphonophycus typicum, Siphonophycus solidum and Tortunema Wernadskii.     

华北高于庄组硅化微体化石组合的古环境

华北中元古代高于庄组 ( 1 4- 1 5亿年 )的硅质叠层石中保存了完好的多种微生物化石。从这些叠层石的微细构造分析 ,成岩早期硅质矿物的交代作用为微体化石的原位保存起了很重要的作用。除部分居住者和浮游的分子外 ,两种丝状蓝藻 ( Siphonophycus inornatum和Eoschizothric composita)和两种球状蓝藻 ( Coccostratusdispergens和 Eoentophysalisbelcherensis)是这些藻席的主要建造者。以球状蓝藻 Eoentophysalis为主的藻席可能发育于潮下高能环境中 ;而以多种丝状蓝藻为主的藻席可能反映了当时的沉积环境为中—高潮间带的局部静止小水体     

Palynological indications of environmental changes during the Late Cretaceous–Eocene on the southern continental margin of Laurasia, Xizang (Tibet)

A palynostratigraphic and palynofacies study of a geological section at Cuojiangding in Zhongba County has provided a basis for discussing the palaeoenvironmental evolution of the southern continental margin of Laurasia in Xizang (Tibet) towards the end of the Cretaceous Period and during the Paleogene. It is the only record of fossil spores and pollen grains from collision- and convergence-related sediments close to the major Yarlung Zangbo Suture. Deposits of the Padana Formation at the base of the section through the Qubeiya, Quxia, and Jialazi formations to the Rujiao Zangbo Conglomerate at the top are considered to range in age from Santonian to Eocene or possibly Oligocene. During this period the India plate collided with, and continued to push against, Laurasia plate. Two spore and pollen zones and three palynofacies types are recognized. These are correlated with two transgressive–regressive cycles associated with the collision, periods of geologically rapid uplift being reflected by the molasse-like sediments of the upper Quxia Formation and the Rujiao Zangbo Conglomerate, which accumulated during the Late Paleocene and Eocene–Oligocene respectively. The first regression led to intermittent subaerial exposure and erosion of the Cuojiangding area. The second ended the marine history of the area and led first to the development of swamps in a subtropical climate, now preserved in the coal-bearing Qiuwu Formation, and later to the development of mountainous terrain, with a cooler climate at higher elevations.     

The mosasaur fossil record through the lens of fossil completeness

The quality of the fossil record affects our understanding of macroevolutionary patterns. Palaeodiversity is filtered through geological and human processes; efforts to correct for these biases are part of a debate concerning the role of sampling proxies and standardization in biodiversity models. We analyse the fossil record of mosasaurs in terms of fossil completeness as a measure of fossil quality, using three novel, correlating metrics of fossil completeness and 4083 specimens. A new qualitative measure of character completeness (QCM) correlates with the phylogenetic character completeness metric. Mean completeness by species decreases with specimen count; average completeness by substage varies significantly. Mean specimen completeness is higher for species‐named fossils than those identified to genus and family. We consider the effect of tooth‐only specimens. Importantly, we find that completeness of species does not correlate with completeness of specimens. Completeness varies by palaeogeography: North American specimens show higher completeness than those from Eurasia and Gondwana. These metrics can be used to identify exceptional preservation; specimen completeness varies significantly by both formation and lithology. The Belgian Ciply Formation displays the highest completeness; clay lithologies show higher completeness values. Neither species diversity nor sea level correlates significantly with fossil completeness. A generalized least squares (GLS) analysis using multiple variables agrees with this result, but reveals two variables with significant predictive value for modelling averaged diversity: sea level, and mosasaur and plesiosaur‐bearing formations (the latter is redundant with diversity). Mosasaur completeness is not driven by sea level, nor does completeness limit the mosasaur diversity signal.     

Phanerozoic marine diversity: rock record modelling provides an independent test of large-scale trends

Sampling bias created by a heterogeneous rock record can seriously distort estimates of marine diversity and makes a direct reading of the fossil record unreliable. Here we compare two independent estimates of Phanerozoic marine diversity that explicitly take account of variation in sampling—a subsampling approach that standardizes for differences in fossil collection intensity, and a rock area modelling approach that takes account of differences in rock availability. Using the fossil records of North America and Western Europe, we demonstrate that a modelling approach applied to the combined data produces results that are significantly correlated with those derived from subsampling. This concordance between independent approaches argues strongly for the reality of the large-scale trends in diversity we identify from both approaches.     

Palaeodiversity and formation counts: redundancy or bias?

A key question in palaeontology is whether the fossil record taken at face value is adequate to represent true patterns of diversity through time. Some methods of assessing data quality have depended on the commonly observed covariation of palaeodiversity and fossiliferous formation counts through time, based on the assumption that the count of formations containing fossils, to a greater or lesser extent, drives diversity; but what if diversity drives formations? Close study of two fossil records, early tetrapods (Devonian–Jurassic) and dinosaurs, shows how the relationship between new taxa and new fossiliferous formations varies through research time. Initially, each new find represents a new fossiliferous formation and discovery follows the ‘bonanza’ model (fossils drive formations). In unexplored parts of the world, new taxa are identified frequently in new regions/formations. Only after time, in well‐explored continents such as Europe and North America, does collecting style switch to a mix of exploration for new formations and re‐sampling of known fossiliferous formations. Data are most striking for dinosaurs, where the Triassic–Jurassic record largely comprises finds from Europe and North America, where new formation discoveries reached their half‐life in 1914. This contrasts with the Cretaceous, which is dominated by rapidly rising discoveries from regions outside Europe and North America and the formation half‐life for these ‘new’ lands is 1986, showing that 50% of new Cretaceous dinosaur‐bearing formations were identified only in the past 30 years. The relationship between dinosaur‐bearing formations and palaeodiversity then combines three signals in variable amounts, reflecting the original diversity (relative abundances of particular taxa in different formations), redundancy (new fossiliferous formations accruing because of new fossil finds) and sampling (intensity of exploration for new fossiliferous formations, and of search within already‐sampled formations). For fossil vertebrates at least, formation counts of various kinds are poor predictors of sampling, missing, for example, the bonanza samples of Lagerstätten such as the Yixian Formation in China: thousands of specimens, dozens of species, but counted as one formation. These observations suggest that formation count cannot be regarded as an unbiased metric of sampling.     

Quantitative paleoecology of Cambrian (Series 2–Miaolingian) communities from central Sonora,Mexico

This work presents a paleoecological approach to study benthic communities preserved in Cambrian strata exposed at the Sahuaral locality in central Sonora, northwestern Mexico. Based on species richness and abundance, this work analyzed 627 individuals corresponding to 33 species from five distinctive Cambrian formations: the lowermost Proveedora Formation characterized by bioturbation horizons that record the occurrence of a benthic-infaunal biota from coastal shallow seas, followed by the Buelna Formation which contains reef deposits dominated by autotrophic epibenthic communities. The Cerro Prieto Formation was deposited in a high-energy shallow marine environment, dominated by primary consumers-epifaunal and suspensions feeders. The uppermost unit, the El Gavilán Formation, is an intercalation of shale and fossiliferous limestone characterized by the fossil remains of suspension feeders, detritus feeders and nektobenthic organisms of low energy deep water environments. The paleobiota consist of ichnofossils, microbial oncolites, chancellorids, brachiopods, hyolithids, and trilobites in a sequence of increasing diversity and complexity. Paleoecological indices (Simpson Dominance, Shannon-Weaver Index, Evenness Index, and Total Richness) were determined and compared in the study area. In addition, the effective number of species and the true diversities were obtained, which are similar between each station distributed in each formation. However, it is possible that the high degree of dominance is a factor to indicate an inequality between the true diversity and the species richness identified. These results provide new analytical and paleoecological criteria for better understanding depositional environments and fossil associations where the spatial distribution of benthic organisms, richness and abundance provide a valued window to Cambrian biotas. The structure of the marine community of the El Sahuaral area has a great affinity with other Cambrian communities, such as those from the Stephen Formation (Burgess Shale, British Columbia) and the Chengjiang biota of the Yangtze Shelf deposits in South China.     

Ecogeochemistry potential in deep time biodiversity illustrated using a modern deep-water case study

The fossil record provides the only direct evidence of temporal trends in biodiversity over evolutionary timescales. Studies of biodiversity using the fossil record are, however, largely limited to discussions of taxonomic and/or morphological diversity. Behavioural and physiological traits that are likely to be under strong selection are largely obscured from the body fossil record. Similar problems exist in modern ecosystems where animals are difficult to access. In this review, we illustrate some of the common conceptual and methodological ground shared between those studying behavioural ecology in deep time and in inaccessible modern ecosystems. We discuss emerging ecogeochemical methods used to explore population connectivity and genetic drift, life-history traits and field metabolic rate and discuss some of the additional problems associated with applying these methods in deep time.     

Testing the effect of the rock record on diversity: a multidisciplinary approach to elucidating the generic richness of sauropodomorph dinosaurs through time

The accurate reconstruction of palaeobiodiversity patterns is central to a detailed understanding of the macroevolutionary history of a group of organisms. However, there is increasing evidence that diversity patterns observed directly from the fossil record are strongly influenced by fluctuations in the quality of our sampling of the rock record; thus, any patterns we see may reflect sampling biases, rather than genuine biological signals. Previous dinosaur diversity studies have suggested that fluctuations in sauropodomorph palaeobiodiversity reflect genuine biological signals, in comparison to theropods and ornithischians whose diversity seems to be largely controlled by the rock record. Most previous diversity analyses that have attempted to take into account the effects of sampling biases have used only a single method or proxy: here we use a number of techniques in order to elucidate diversity. A global database of all known sauropodomorph body fossil occurrences (2024) was constructed. A taxic diversity curve for all valid sauropodomorph genera was extracted from this database and compared statistically with several sampling proxies (rock outcrop area and dinosaur‐bearing formations and collections), each of which captures a different aspect of fossil record sampling. Phylogenetic diversity estimates, residuals and sample‐based rarefaction (including the first attempt to capture ‘cryptic’ diversity in dinosaurs) were implemented to investigate further the effects of sampling. After ‘removal’ of biases, sauropodomorph diversity appears to be genuinely high in the Norian, Pliensbachian–Toarcian, Bathonian–Callovian and Kimmeridgian–Tithonian (with a small peak in the Aptian), whereas low diversity levels are recorded for the Oxfordian and Berriasian–Barremian, with the Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary seemingly representing a real diversity trough. Observed diversity in the remaining Triassic–Jurassic stages appears to be largely driven by sampling effort. Late Cretaceous diversity is difficult to elucidate and it is possible that this interval remains relatively under‐sampled. Despite its distortion by sampling biases, much of sauropodomorph palaeobiodiversity can be interpreted as a reflection of genuine biological signals, and fluctuations in sea level may account for some of these diversity patterns.     

A new fossil flower from the Turonian of New Jersey: Dressiantha bicarpellata gen. et sp. nov. (Capparales)

Recent discoveries of fossil reproductive structures from deposits of the Raritan Formation in New Jersey (Turonian, Upper Cretaceous, ~90 million years BP) include a previously undescribed representative of the Order Capparales. The fossils are usually charcoalified with three-dimensional structure and excellent anatomical details. In the present contribution, we introduce a taxon represented by fossil flowers that have a combination of characters now found in the families of the Order Capparales sensu Cronquist. The fossil species is characterized by an unique suite of characters, such as the presence of a gynophore, arrangement of the sepals, unequal petal size, monothecal anthers, and a bicarpellate gynoecium, that are found in extant families of the Order Capparales. This new taxon constitutes an important addition to our understanding of Cretaceous angiosperm diversity and represents the oldest known fossil record for the Capparales. Heretofore, the oldest known capparalean was from the Late Tertiary sediments of North America.     

贵州寒武系第二统杷榔组有壳变形虫的新发现*

有壳变形虫(testate amoebae)的演化历史最早可追溯至新元古代早期, 以该时期北美、华北、挪威以及澳洲等多个地区浅海相碳酸盐岩、页岩中发现的瓶状微体化石(vase-shaped microfossils)为标志。此前认为, 显生宙的有壳变形虫最早出现在早泥盆世。长期以来, 早古生代的地层中未发现这类原生生物的明确化石证据。本研究通过对岩石样品进行常规孢粉酸泡分析处理和切磨岩石薄片, 获取原位保存的化石标本的技术方法, 从贵州东部剑河县交榜剖面出露的寒武系杷榔组(第2统第4阶)中获得数枚有壳变形虫(testate amoebae)化石标本。基于标本的显微形态特征, 并结合激光拉曼光谱等研究, 对原先记述为疑源类的Plagasphaera balangensis和P. sp. A两形态种进行重新认识和描述。由于它们在结构和形态上与一些现生的鳞壳虫目(Euglyphida)有壳变形虫极为相似, 因此将先前定为疑源类的Plagasphaera balangensis和P. sp. A两形态属、种名, 分别修订为Palaeoassulina balangensis gen. et sp. nov.和?Palaeoassulina sp. A。该发现不仅将显生宙有壳变形虫的原有化石记录从晚古生代泥盆纪向前延伸至寒武纪早期, 还为调查研究有壳变形虫的系统演化提供关键的生物化石证据。     

徐淮地区元古宙九顶山组燧石中微体生物化石新资料

我国徐淮地区元古宙九顶山组产出丰富的条带状和结核状燧石,其中保存了大量微体生物化石。本研究通过岩石切片法发现了呈三维立体状态保存的精美的丝状和球状蓝藻化石,鉴定出12属16种,即有丝状蓝藻6属10种(包含2个未定种):Siphonophycus septatum,S.robustum,S.typicum,S.kestron,Oscillatoriopsis ver-miformis,O.obtusa,Cephalophytarion grande,Salome sp.,Veteronostocale amoenum,Paleolyngbyasp.;球状蓝藻3属3种:Gloeodiniopsis suxianensis,Eoentophysalis cumulus,Nanococcus vulgaris;以及分类位置未定的3属3种(包含1个未定种):Myxococcoides minor,Leiosphaeridiasp.,Brachypleganon khandanum。其中Oscil-latoriopsis vermiformis,O.obtusa,Cephalophytarion grande,Salome sp.,Veteronostocale amoenum,Paleolyn-gbyasp.,Nanococcus vulgaris均为本地首次发现,弥补了以前在九顶山组中只找到Siphonophycus而未曾见Os-cillatoriopsis的缺憾,并对大量保存精美的Siphonophycus的来源问题给出了可能的解释。而大量无异形胞的Os-cillatoriopsis属化石的存在可能反映了当时的海底为缺氧环境。本次新发现丰富了九顶山组的微体生物化石资料,这些微体生物化石组合有可能成为元古宙洲际生物地层对比的依据。九顶山组碳酸岩台地沉积相中普遍发育的微体生物藻席、保存精美的高分异度的蓝藻化石以及并未在底栖环境中发现真核生物,均反映冰期前的浅海底栖生态系统还是由原核生物为主体的微体生物生态系统。     

Interactions within and between clades shaped the diversification of terrestrial carnivores

A longstanding debate in evolutionary biology and paleontology is whether ecological interactions such as competition impose diversity dependence on speciation and extinction rates. Here, we analyze the fossil record of terrestrial mammalian carnivores in North America and Eurasia using a Bayesian framework to assess whether their diversity dynamics were affected by diversity dependence within and between families (12 in Eurasia, 10 in North America). We found eight instances of within‐clade diversity dependence suppressing speciation rates and detected between‐clade effects increasing extinction rates in six instances. Diversity dependence often involved lineages that migrated between continents and we found that speciation was more responsive to diversity changes within the clade, whereas extinction responded to diversity of taxa in other clades. The analysis of the fossil record of Carnivora suggests that interactions within and between clades are associated with different speciation and extinction regimes, opening room for a broader theory of diversity dependence.     

Evolution in fossil lineages: paleontology and The Origin of Species

Of all of the sources of evidence for evolution by natural selection, perhaps the most problematic for Darwin was the geological record of organic change. In response to the absence of species-level transformations in the fossil record, Darwin argued that the fossil record was too incomplete, too biased, and too poorly known to provide strong evidence against his theory. Here, this view of the fossil record is evaluated in light of 150 years of subsequent paleontological research. Although Darwin's assessment of the completeness and resolution of fossiliferous rocks was in several ways astute, today the fossil record is much better explored, documented, and understood than it was in 1859. In particular, a reasonably large set of studies tracing evolutionary trajectories within species can now be brought to bear on Darwin's expectation of gradual change driven by natural selection. An unusually high-resolution sequence of stickleback-bearing strata records the transformation of this lineage via natural selection. This adaptive trajectory is qualitatively consistent with Darwin's prediction, but it occurred much more rapidly than he would have guessed: almost all of the directional change was completed within 1,000 generations. In most geological sequences, this change would be too rapid to resolve. The accumulated fossil record at more typical paleontological scales (10(4)-10(6) years) reveals evolutionary changes that are rarely directional and net rates of change that are perhaps surprisingly slow, two findings that are in agreement with the punctuated-equilibrium model. Finally, Darwin's view of the broader history of life is reviewed briefly, with a focus on competition-mediated extinction and recent paleontological and phylogenetic attempts to assess diversity dependence in evolutionary dynamics.     

A New Frontier for Palaeobiology: Earth's Vast Deep Biosphere

Diverse micro‐organisms populate a global deep biosphere hosted by rocks and sediments beneath land and sea, containing more biomass than any other biome except forests. This paper reviews an emerging palaeobiological archive of these dark habitats: microfossils preserved in ancient pores and fractures in the crust. This archive, seemingly dominated by mineralized filaments (although rods and coccoids are also reported), is presently far too sparsely sampled and poorly understood to reveal trends in the abundance, distribution, or diversity of deep life through time. New research is called for to establish the nature and extent of the fossil record of Earth's deep biosphere by combining systematic exploration, rigorous microanalysis, and experimental studies of both microbial preservation and the formation of abiotic pseudofossils within the crust. It is concluded that the fossil record of Earth's largest microbial habitat may still have much to tell us about the history of life, the evolution of biogeochemical cycles, and the search for life on Mars.     

Calibrating the Ordovician Radiation of marine life: implications for Phanerozoic diversity trends

It has long been suspected that trends in global marine biodiversity calibrated for the Phanerozoic may be affected by sampling problems. However, this possibility has not been evaluated definitively, and raw diversity trends are generally accepted at face value in macroevolutionary investigations. Here, we analyze a global-scale sample of fossil occurrences that allows us to determine directly the effects of sample size on the calibration of what is generally thought to be among the most significant global biodiversity increases in the history of life: the Ordovician Radiation. Utilizing a composite database that includes trilobites, brachiopods, and three classes of molluscs, we conduct rarefaction analyses to demonstrate that the diversification trajectory for the Radiation was considerably different than suggested by raw diversity time-series. Our analyses suggest that a substantial portion of the increase recognized in raw diversity depictions for the last three Ordovician epochs (the Llandeilian, Caradocian, and Ashgillian) is a consequence of increased sample size of the preserved and catalogued fossil record. We also use biometric data for a global sample of Ordovician trilobites, along with methods of measuring morphological diversity that are not biased by sample size, to show that morphological diversification in this major clade had leveled off by the Llanvirnian. The discordance between raw diversity depictions and more robust taxonomic and morphological diversity metrics suggests that sampling effects may strongly influence our perception of biodiversity trends throughout the Phanerozoic.     

A temperate palaeodiversity peak in Mesozoic dinosaurs and evidence for Late Cretaceous geographical partitioning

Aim Modern biodiversity peaks in the tropics and declines poleward, a pattern that is potentially driven by climate. Although this latitudinal biodiversity gradient (LBG) also characterizes the marine invertebrate fossil record, distributions of ancient terrestrial faunas are poorly understood. This study utilizes data on the dinosaur fossil record to examine spatial patterns in terrestrial biodiversity throughout the Mesozoic. Location We compiled data on fossil occurrences across the globe. Methods We compiled a comprehensive dataset of Mesozoic dinosaur genera (738), including birds. Following the utilization of sampling standardization techniques to mediate for the uneven sampling of the fossil record, we constructed latitudinal patterns of biodiversity from this dataset. Results The dominant group of Mesozoic terrestrial vertebrates did not conform to the modern LBG. Instead, dinosaur diversity was highest at temperate palaeolatitudes throughout the 160 million year span of dinosaurian evolutionary history. Latitudinal diversity correlates strongly with the distribution of land area. Late Cretaceous sauropods and ornithischians exhibit disparate LBGs. Main conclusions The continuity of the palaeotemperate peak in dinosaur diversity indicates a diminished role for climate on the Mesozoic LBG; instead, dinosaur diversity may have been driven by the amount of land area among latitudinal belts. There is no evidence that the tropics acted as a cradle for dinosaur diversity. Geographical partitioning among major clades of herbivorous dinosaurs in the Late Cretaceous may result from the advanced stages of continental fragmentation and/or differing responses to increasing latitudinal climatic zonation. Our results suggest that the modern‐day LBG on land was only established 30 million years ago, following a significant post‐Eocene recalibration, potentially related to increased seasonality.     

New data on multicellular thallophytes and fragments of cellular tissues from Late Proterozoic phosphate rocks, South China

Zhung Yun & Yuan Xun-lai 1992 01 15: New data on multiccllular thallophytes and fragments of cellular tissues from Late Proterozoic phosphate rocks. South China, Lethaia . Vol. 25. pp. 1–18. Oslo. ISSN 0024–1164.
A fossil assemblage consisting of multicellular thallophytes. acritarchs. cyanophytes. bacteria and some forms of uncertain affinity were found in black phosphorites of the Late Protcrozoic Doushantuo Formation (upper Sinian) in Wengan Phosphate Mine. central Guizhou Province. South China. This paper reports new forms of multiecllular thallophytes and cellular tissue. Four new genera and seven new species are described. Cytomorphological-histomorphological study of these lossil tissues and comparison with modern rhodophyle Corallina sp. suggest that (I) most fossils described here are thalloid plants with a certain degree of tissue differentiation. Some of them may be hisiomorphologically comparable to modern rhodophytcs. but all are still of uncertain systematic position Some exhibit histomorphological features of mctazoan tissues. (2) The fossil cells appear to have undergone plasmolysis that might be due to osmosis caused by the high phosphate content in the sea water. (3) Most of the thallophytes were sessile benthos with recognizable basal and upper parts to the thallus. Forms with leafshaped or nodular thalli may have moved passively or ncuslonically. New fossil forms discovered from the local rock bed demonstrate the possible existence of a community with relatively high diversity in Wengan shallow sea. This confirms that an evolutionary radiation of mctaphylcs look place during Ediacaran time, shortly after the Nantuo glacial epoch. Multicellular tlhallophytes. mctaphytes. phosphate rocks, phosphorites. Late Proterozoic .     

Large-scale heterogeneity of the fossil record: implications for Phanerozoic biodiversity studies

Patterns of origination, extinction and standing diversity through time have been inferred from tallies of taxa preserved in the fossil record. This approach assumes that sampling of the fossil record is effectively uniform over time. Although recent evidence suggests that our sampling of the available rock record has indeed been very thorough and effective, there is also overwhelming evidence that the rock record available for sampling is itself distorted by major systematic biases. Data on rock outcrop area compiled for post-Palaeozoic sediments from Western Europe at stage level are presented. These show a strongly cyclical pattern corresponding to first- and second-order sequence stratigraphical depositional cycles. Standing diversity increases over time and, at the coarsest scale, is decoupled from surface outcrop area. This increasing trend can therefore be considered a real pattern. Changes in standing diversity and origination rates over time-scales measured in tens of millions of years, however, are strongly correlated with surface outcrop area. Extinction peaks conform to a random-walk model, but larger peaks occur at just two positions with respect to second-order stratigraphical sequences, towards the culmination of stacked transgressive system tracts and close to system bases, precisely the positions where taxonomic last occurrences are predicted to cluster under a random distribution model. Many of the taxonomic patterns that have been described from the fossil record conform to a species-area effect. Whether this arises primarily from sampling bias, or from changing surface area of marine shelf seas through time and its effect on biodiversity, remains problematic.