辽南前寒武系兴民村组“类水母”化石新认识

近年来,由于大量可靠的前寒武纪多细胞动物化石的发现,激起了各国学者在前寒武纪地层中寻找多细胞动物化石及其遗迹的热情。华北辽东半岛南部新元古界兴民村组"类水母"化石自上个世纪80年代中期发现以来,一直被大多数学者认为是可能的后生动物化石。然而,笔者通过对"类水母"化石的形态学及生长模式的研究,认为辽南前寒武系兴民村组"类水母"化石可能并非多细胞动物化石,而是一类亲缘关系不明的不具备运动能力的底栖生物化石,该化石具有无限的线性增长方式。关于其生物学属性需要进行进一步的研究。     

The proterozoic and earliest cambrian trace fossil record; patterns, problems and perspectives

The increase in trace fossil diversity across the Neoproterozoic-Cambrianboundary often is presented in terms of tabulations of ichnogenera.However, a clearer picture of the increase in diversity andcomplexity can be reached by combining trace fossils into broadgroups defined both on morphology and interpretation. This alsofocuses attention on looking for similarites between Neoproterozoicand Cambrian trace fossils. Siliciclastic sediments of the Neoproterozoicpreserve elongate tubular organisms and structures of probablealgal origin, many of which are very similar to trace fossils.Such enigmatic structures include Palaeopascichnus and Yelovichnus,previously thought to be trace fossils in the form of tightmeanders. A preliminary two or tripartite terminal Neoproterozoic tracefossil zonation can be be recognized. Possibly the earliesttrace fossils are short unbranched forms, probably younger thanabout 560 Ma. Typical Neoproterozoic trace fossils are unbranchedand essentially horizontal forms found associated with diverseassemblages of Ediacaran organisms. In sections younger thanabout 550 Ma a modest increase in trace fossil diversity occurs,including the appearance of rare three-dimensional burrow systems(treptichnids), and traces with a three-lobed lower surfaces.     

新元古代大塘坡组黑色页岩中的甲藻甾烷及其生物学意义

大塘坡组黑色页岩为中国扬子地台新元古代间冰期沉积。在湖北长阳古城和湖南花垣民乐的大塘坡组黑色页岩中检测到沟鞭藻的生物标志化合物——甲藻甾烷,这是目前国内地质时代最早的甲藻甾烷的检出报道,结合其它化石资科,表明沟鞭藻与其它真核藻类的系统发生至少在新元古代就已经完成、这与真核生物在新元古代冰期结束前就有很大发展的推测相一致。     

贵州瓮安新元古代陡山沱组磷酸盐化管柱状微体化石新材料

在用醋酸浸泡处理采自贵州瓮安新元古代陡山沱组磷酸质岩石样品时,获得大量微体动物骨骼化石。文中重点报道部分管柱状微体化石,即：Sinoquadraticus poratus gen.et sp.nov和Sinoquadraticus wenganensis gen. et sp.nov.。并对Sinocyclocylicus的部分特征进行补充。     

Phosphatized multicellular algae in the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation, China, and the early evolution of florideophyte red algae

Phosphatic sediments of the Late Neoproterozoic (ca. 600 million years old [Myr]) Doushantuo Formation at Weng'an, South China, contain fossils of multicellular algae preserved in anatomical detail. As revealed by light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, these fossils include both simple pseudoparenchymatous thalli with apical growth but no cortex-medulla differentiation and more complex thalli characterized by cortex-medulla differentiation and structures interpretable as carposporophytes, suggesting a multiphasic life cycle. Simple pseudoparenchymatous thalli, represented by Wengania, Gremiphyca, and Thallophycoides, are interpreted as stem group florideophytes. In contrast, complex pseudoparenchymatous thalli, such as Thallophyca and Paramecia, compare more closely to fossil and living corallinaleans than to other florideophyte orders, although they also differ in some important aspects (e.g., lack of biocalcification). These more complex thalli are interpreted as early stem group corallinaleans that diverged before Paleozoic stem groups such as Arenigiphyllum, Petrophyton, Graticula, and Archaeolithophyllum. This phylogenetic interpretation implies that (1) the phylogenetic divergence between the Florideophyceae and its sister group, the Bangiales, must have taken place before Doushantuo time-an inference supported by the occurrence of bangialean fossils in Mesoproterozoic rocks; (2) the initial diversification of the florideophytes occurred no later than the Doushantuo time; and (3) the corallinalean clade had a "soft" (uncalcified) evolutionary history in the Neoproterozoic before evolving biocalcification in the Paleozoic and undergoing crown group diversification in the Mesozoic.     

龙凤山藻在澄江早寒武世生物群中的发现

主要报道了产自云南昆明海口耳材村早寒武世筇竹寺组玉案山段澄江生物群中可能为自由漂浮生长的宏观藻类化石--心型龙凤山藻(新种)(Longfengshania cordata sp. nov.)和中华豆芽藻(新属、新种)(Plantulaformis sinensis gen. et sp. nov.).这些化石的发现进一步显示了澄江生物群物种多样性,为揭示该生物群爆发性演化提供了新的证据.通过对龙凤山藻属亲缘关系的深入比较研究,进一步证明该类化石应归属宏观藻类以及它们遗传上的稳定性、演化上的保守性和环境上的适应性.     

龙凤山藻在澄江早寒武世生物群中的发现

主要报道了产自云南昆明海口耳材村早寒武世筇竹寺组玉案山段澄江生物群中可能为漂浮生长的宏观藻类化石-心型龙凤山藻（新种）（Longfengshania cordata sp.nov.)和中华豆芽藻（新属、新种）（lantulaformis sinensis gen.et sp.nov)。这些化石的发现进一步显示了澄江生物群种物多样性,为揭示该生物群爆发性演化提供了新的证据。通过对龙凤山藻属亲缘关系的深入比较研究,进一步证明该类化石应归属宏观藻类以及它们遗传上的稳定性、演化上的保守性和环境上的适应性。     

Ediacaran microbial colonies

Enigmatic discoidal fossils are common in Neoproterozoic sedimentary sequences and in the stratigraphic record pre-date the first appearance of diverse Ediacaran fossil assemblages. Termed 'medusoids', these Neoproterozoic discoidal fossils have generally been interpreted as coelenterate-grade organisms implying a radially symmetrical body plan for ancestral eumetazoans. Analysis of exceptionally preserved discoidal fossils from the White Sea area, however, indicates that most of these discoidal forms represent colonial microbes. Localized pyritization, for example, reveals the presence of a conspicuous filamentous substructure in Ediacaria , whereas concentric rings, radial sectors and central structures in Cyclomedusa and Paliella compare directly with Recent microbial colonies growing in a nutritionally heterogeneous environment. At least some Ediacaran discoids can be compared with extant concentric ring-shaped microbial colonies that grow in hypersaline microbial mats. Insofar as most of the remaining record of Ediacaran discoids can be attributed to the holdfast structures of non-radiate modular organisms, there is no support from the fossil record for identifying a radiate ancestry for the Metazoa.     

陕南新元古代末期微体管状疑难化石

末元古纪以Cloudina为代表的管状动物化石是目前世界上公认最早的具矿化骨骼的生物类群,在世界许多地区都有发现,但它并不是当时唯一的矿化生物类型,更多的动物骨骼化化石证据在寒武纪大爆发之前的沉积物中时有发现。作者在处理陕南末元古纪的化石过程中,发现了大量不同形态的微体管状化石(直径大多小于150μm),包括末端封闭的粗短管体,不分枝管体,末端扩展的骨针状构造及具多种分叉样式的分枝管体。这些化石的亲缘关系仍不清楚,但它们为我们提供了动物演化和矿化初始阶段的化石记录。     

The youngest Ediacaran fossils from southern Africa

Discovery of fossils of the Ediacara biota near the top of the Spitzkopf Member at farm Swanpunt extends the known range of these remains in Namibia more than 600 m to near the sub-Cambrian unconformity. The fossiliferous beds occur approximately 100 m above a volcanic ash dated at 543 +/- 1 Ma, and thus may be the youngest Proterozoic Ediacara-type fossils reported anywhere in the world. Fossils are preserved within and on the tops of dm-thick beds of storm-deposited sandstone at two stratigraphic levels; the environment is interpreted as open marine, generally calm but with episodic disruptions by storm waves, and probably within the euphotic zone. The presence of Pteridinium carolinaense (St. Jean), which is also known from the classic sections in Ediacara and the White Sea among others, reinforces evidence from geochronology and chemostratigraphy that the Swartpunt section is terminal Neoproterozoic in age. The new genus and species Swartpuntia germsi is a large, multifoliate frond that exhibits at least three quilted petaloids. Macroscopically, Swartpuntia resembles Pteridinium and Ediacara-type fronds such as Charniodiscus traditionally interpreted as Cnidaria, whereas microscopically it exhibits segmentation that is remarkably similar to that of the putative worm Dickinsonia. Combination of diagnostic characters of these supposedly disparate groups in a single species suggests that many species of quilted Ediacaran organisms were more similar to each other than they were to any modern groups, and provides support for the concept of the "Vendobionta" as a late Neoproterozoic group of mainly multifoliate organisms with a distinctive quilted segmentation.     

The role of iron in the formation of Ediacaran ‘death masks’

The Ediacara biota are an enigmatic group of Neoproterozoic soft-bodied fossils that mark the first major radiation of complex eukaryotic and macroscopic life. These fossils are thought to have been preserved via pyritic “death masks” mediated by seafloor microbial mats, though little about the chemical constraints of this preservational pathway is known, in particular surrounding the role of bioavailable iron in death mask formation and preservational fidelity. In this study, we perform decay experiments on both diploblastic and triploblastic animals under a range of simulated sedimentary iron concentrations, in order to characterize the role of iron in the preservation of Ediacaran organisms. After 28 days of decay, we demonstrate the first convincing “death masks” produced under experimental laboratory conditions composed of iron sulfide and probable oxide veneers. Moreover, our results demonstrate that the abundance of iron in experiments is not the sole control on death mask formation, but also tissue histology and the availability of nucleation sites. This illustrates that Ediacaran preservation via microbial death masks need not be a “perfect storm” of paleoenvironmental porewater and sediment chemistry, but instead can occur under a range of conditions.     

Vestiges of a beginning? Paleontological and geochemical constraints on early animal evolution

Inspired by molecular clock estimates, some biologists have proposed that animals in general, and bilaterian metazoans in particular, began to diverge substantially earlier than fossils indicate. Balavoine and Adoutte [Science 280 (1998) 397] specifically hypothesized that the Cambrian explosion documents parallel radiations within three major bilaterian clades that diverged from one another relatively early in the Neoproterozoic Era. The geological record is permissive with respect to such hypotheses, but not encouraging. The earliest evolution of animals certainly took place before the initial appearance of phosphatic animal microfossils or Ediacaran macrofossils, but bilaterian clades need not have been part of this metazoan “pre-history”. Alternatively, the evolution of large size, made possible by late Neoproterozoic oxygen increase, may have provided the selective environment in which stem bilaterians differentiated. Cambrian events per se appear to have begun in the wake of environmental perturbation and accompanying extinction near the Proterozoic–Cambrian boundary.     

Integrin and cadherin clusters: A robust way to organize adhesions for cell mechanics

The evolutionary emergence of animals is one of the most significant episodes in the history of life, but its timing remains poorly constrained. Molecular clocks estimate that animals originated and began diversifying over 100 million years before the first definitive metazoan fossil evidence in the Cambrian. However, closer inspection reveals that clock estimates and the fossil record are less divergent than is often claimed. Modern clock analyses do not predict the presence of the crown‐representatives of most animal phyla in the Neoproterozoic. Furthermore, despite challenges provided by incomplete preservation, a paucity of phylogenetically informative characters, and uncertain expectations of the anatomy of early animals, a number of Neoproterozoic fossils can reasonably be interpreted as metazoans. A considerable discrepancy remains, but much of this can be explained by the limited preservation potential of early metazoans and the difficulties associated with their identification in the fossil record. Critical assessment of both records may permit better resolution of the tempo and mode of early animal evolution.     

河北张家口下花园地区新元古代下马岭组油页岩中的红藻化石

通过对下花园地区晚前寒武纪下马岭组油页岩的研究,发现了保存极为完好的红藻化石,同时也发现特定的底栖宏观红藻可以作为重要生烃母质,在中—低成熟度条件下,甚至可以成为重要生油母质。     

EDIACARAN AND CAMBRIAN INDEX FOSSILS FROM SONORA, MEXICO

Abstract:  The Cambrian index fossil Treptichnus pedum is reported from the Puerto Blanco Formation near Pitiquito, Sonora, Mexico, and new occurrences of the Neoproterozoic index fossil Cloudina are reported from the underlying La Ciénega Formation. Considered together, these fossils constrain the location of the Ediacaran/Cambrian boundary in Mexico. The suite of fossils in this sequence is important because it provides an independent biostratigraphic datum for constraining the position of Laurentia during the onset of metazoan diversification, for testing proposed lithostratigraphic correlations among western North American Neoproterozoic–Cambrian successions, and for testing regional tectonic paradigms such as the Mojave-Sonora Megashear hypothesis.     

现代丰年虾卵的腐解实验——对早期化石胚胎研究的启示

早寒武世和埃迪卡拉纪中的球状化石,一些已被归入可能的后生动物胚胎化石,由于具较为完好的三维保存方式以及近乎完美的胚胎发育序列,为早期后生动物的起源、分类、谱系演化及发育生物学提供了难得的实证材料。然而随着研究的深入,多数寒武纪胚胎的生物学分类位置未定;而数量异常巨大、又有独自的保存方式的晚元古代陡山沱组胚胎的真伪和生物学归属,更是争议未消。通过对现生生物胚胎的实验埋藏研究,可以揭示出各类生物胚胎在腐解、埋藏各阶段的保存潜力,而现代胚胎在各实验埋藏阶段形态、结构的变化,也能为化石胚胎的研究提供重要的实证材料。本文就是通过对虾卵胚胎各发育阶段腐解保存潜力的实验模拟研究,试图为球状化石的形成机制和化石归属提供一些实验室依据。     

A new type of Precambrian megascopic fossils: the Jinxian biota from northeastern China

Precambrian fossils are crucial for our understanding of the evolution of early organisms. Megascopic body fossils are more important because they potentially represent macroorganisms. However, the Precambrian fossil record is sparse and dominated by microfossils and microbial structures. Here we show a new type of megascopic fossils recovered from the Xingmincun Formation (probably Neoproterozoic age), northeastern China. The specimens are flat, flexible (easily corrugated) and discoidal in outline. Concentric or spiral ridges are preserved on both sides. Petrographical thin section examination indicates that the specimen consist of a thin layer of microcrystalline quartz grains (about 20–30 μm thick) wrapped by an outer sheath, composed primarily of chlorites. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM) coupled with an x-ray energy dispersive spectrometer system (EDX) analysis shows microstructures and relative element abundance of the fossils, but contributes little in solving their biological affinities. The fossils have previously been linked to discoidal impressions of the Ediacara biota. Close examination on new materials indicates that they are radically different from either the Ediacara impressions or any other Precambrian megascopic remains. Concentric or spiral ridges may result from rhythmic growth and the presence of twin specimens may suggest that the organisms undergo asexual reproduction or inhibition of growth in one direction. Referring them to any known fossil or living group has proved to be difficult. We conclude that they represent a distinct group of Precambrian megascopic organisms regardless of their affinities remaining problematic.     

Proterozoic photosynthesis – a critical review

Chlorophyll‐based photosynthesis has fuelled the biosphere since at least the early Archean, but it was the ecological takeover of oxygenic cyanobacteria in the early Palaeoproterozoic, and of photosynthetic eukaryotes in the late Neoproterozoic, that gave rise to a recognizably modern ocean–atmosphere system. The fossil record offers a unique view of photosynthesis in deep time, but is deeply compromised by differential preservation and non‐diagnostic morphologies. The pervasively polyphyletic expression of modern cyanobacterial phenotypes means that few Proterozoic fossils are likely to be members of extant clades; rather than billion‐year stasis, their similarity to modern counterparts is better interpreted as a combination of serial convergence and extinction, facilitated by high levels of horizontal gene transfer. There are few grounds for identifying cyanobacterial akinetes or crown‐group Nostocales in the Proterozoic record. Such recognition undermines the results of various ancestral state reconstruction analyses, as well as molecular clock estimates calibrated against demonstrably problematic Proterozoic fossils. Eukaryotic organisms are likely to have acquired their (stem‐group nostocalean) photoendosymbionts/plastids by at least the Palaeoproterozoic, but remained ecologically marginalized by incumbent cyanobacteria until the late Neoproterozoic appearance of suspension‐feeding animals.     

The first named Ediacaran body fossil, Aspidella Terranovica

Aspidella terranovica Billings, 1872 was first described from the late Neoproterozoic Fermeuse Formation (St. John's Group) on the Avalon Peninsula of eastern Newfoundland, approximately 1km stratigraphically above the famous Ediacaran biota at Mistaken Point, and several kilometres below the base of the Cambrian. Aspidella has been reinterpreted perhaps more than any other Precambrian taxon, and has variously been regarded as a fossil mollusc or ‘medusoid’, a gas escape structure, a concretion, or a mechanical suction mark. Our studies indicate that Aspidella includes a wide variety of preservational morphs varying from negative hyporeliefs with a raised rim and ridges radiating from a slit (Aspidella‐type preservation), to flat discs with a central boss and sharp outer ring (Spriggia preservation), to positive hyporeliefs with concentric ornamentation (Ediacaria preservation). Specimens occur in a continuum of sizes, with preservational styles dependent on the size of the specimen and the grain size of the host lithology; the elongation of specimens is tectonic. Aspidella is confirmed as a body fossil from observations of complex radial and concentric ornamentation, mutually deformed borders in clusters of specimens, and occurrence on the same bedding planes as certain distinctive Ediacaran taxa. Aspidella is indistinguishable from, and has priority over, several of the most common genera of late Neoproterozoic discoidal body fossils worldwide. Similar fossils from Australia are interpreted as holdfasts of frond‐like organisms. The density of specimens in the Aspidella beds suggests levels of benthic biomass in the Neoproterozoic that could rival those of modern marine communities. The serial growth forms, PalaeopascichnusIntrites, Neonereites renariusYelovichnus, associated with Aspidella, are interpreted as body fossils of unknown affinities rather than trace fossils. A new, trilobed, Ediacaran body fossil, Triforillonia costellae gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Aspidella beds of the Fermeuse Formation.     

Ancient life and moving fluids

Over 3.7 billion years of Earth history, life has evolved complex adaptations to help navigate and interact with the fluid environment. Consequently, fluid dynamics has become a powerful tool for studying ancient fossils, providing insights into the palaeobiology and palaeoecology of extinct organisms from across the tree of life. In recent years, this approach has been extended to the Ediacara biota, an enigmatic assemblage of Neoproterozoic soft-bodied organisms that represent the first major radiation of macroscopic eukaryotes. Reconstructing the ways in which Ediacaran organisms interacted with the fluids provides new insights into how these organisms fed, moved, and interacted within communities. Here, we provide an in-depth review of fluid physics aimed at palaeobiologists, in which we dispel misconceptions related to the Reynolds number and associated flow conditions, and specify the governing equations of fluid dynamics. We then review recent advances in Ediacaran palaeobiology resulting from the application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). We provide a worked example and account of best practice in CFD analyses of fossils, including the first large eddy simulation (LES) experiment performed on extinct organisms. Lastly, we identify key questions, barriers, and emerging techniques in fluid dynamics, which will not only allow us to understand the earliest animal ecosystems better, but will also help to develop new palaeobiological tools for studying ancient life.