Dawn of diverse shelled and carbonaceous animal microfossils at ~ 571 Ma
Luana Morais, Bernardo T. Freitas, Thomas Rich Fairchild, Rolando Esteban Clavijo Arcos, Marcel Guillong, Derek Vance, Marcelo Da Roz de Campos, Marly Babinski, Luiz Gustavo Pereira, Juliana M. Leme, Paulo C. Boggiani, Gabriel L. Osés, Isaac D. Rudnitzki, Douglas Galante
TL;DR
This paper reports the discovery of diverse animal microfossils in Brazil, dating back to 571 million years ago, suggesting an earlier diversification of metazoans than previously known.
Contribution
The study presents the earliest known record of biomineralized and carbonaceous animal microfossils, predating the Ediacaran biomineralized macrofossils.
Findings
Microfossils from the Bocaina Formation are dated to 571 ± 9 Ma, earlier than the Cloudina-Corumbella-Namacalathus biozone.
The microfossils include biomineralized structures similar to cloudinids, protoconodonts, anabaritids, and hyolithids.
The discovery indicates an earlier diversification of metazoans, including organo-phosphatic animal coverings.
Abstract
The Ediacaran-Cambrian transition documents a critical stage in the diversification of animals. The global fossil record documents the appearance of cloudinomorphs and other shelled tubular organisms followed by non-biomineralized small carbonaceous fossils and by the highly diversified small shelly fossils between ~ 550 and 530 Ma. Here, we report diverse microfossils in thin sections and hand samples from the Ediacaran Bocaina Formation, Brazil, separated into five descriptive categories: elongate solid structures (ES); elongate filled structures (EF); two types of equidimensional structures (EQ 1 and 2) and elongate hollow structures with coiled ends (CE). These specimens, interpreted as diversified candidate metazoans, predate the latest Ediacaran biomineralized index macrofossils of the Cloudina-Corumbella-Namacalathus biozone in the overlying Tamengo Formation. Our new carbonate…
Click any figure to enlarge with its caption.
Figure 10
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8
Figure 9Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
Taxonomy
TopicsEducation, sociology, and vocational training