New Benthic Fossils from the Late Ediacaran Strata of Southwestern ChinaOACSTPCD
New Benthic Fossils from the Late Ediacaran Strata of Southwestern China
The Jiangchuan Biota from the Jiucheng Member(Mb.)of the Dengying Formation(Fm.),discovered in Jiangchuan,eastern Yunnan,China,is marked by copious macrofossils at the apex of the Ediacaran strata.This fauna features benthic algae with varied holdfasts and other fossils of indeterminate taxonomic affinity and is compositionally unique compared to the Shibantan and Gaojiashan biotas of the Dengying Fm.and the Miaohe and Wenghui biotas of the Doushantuo Fm.,elsewhere in China.One novel benthic saccular macroalgal fossil,named here Houjiashania yuxiensis gen.and sp.nov.,from the Jiangchuan Biota is based on fossils that are sausage-shaped,elongate,tubular,ranging from 0.3 to 4 cm in length,and up to 0.8 cm in diameter.One terminus is blunt and rounded to an obtuse angle,the other is bent with a spread-out surface resembling a holdfast,suggesting a three-dimensional thallus.Thin,stipe-shaped outgrowths,likely vestiges of sessile saccular life forms,are prevalent in macroalgal fossils of analogous size and shape,as well as present brown algae Scytosiphonaceae,such as Colpomenia and Dactylosiphon.The new findings augment the diversity of benthic algae,such as those known from the Early Neoproterozoic Longfengshan Biota in North China.The benthic algal macrofossils in the Jiucheng Mb.add to knowledge of Late Ediacaran metaphyte diversification and offer more clues about the evolutionary positioning of primitive macroalgae.The co-occurrence of numerous planktonic and benthic multicellular algae and planktonic microbes might have facilitated ecologically the more extensive later Cambrian explosion evidenced by the Chengjiang Biota in Yunnan.
LIU Junping;LI Ming;TANG Feng;ZHAO Jiangtai;SONG Sicun;ZHOU Ying;SONG Xiaohan;REN Liudong
School of Earth Science and Resources,China University of Geosciences,Beijing 10083,China||Yunnan Institute of Geological Survey,Kunming 650216,ChinaChinese Academy of Geological Sciences,Beijing 10037,ChinaChinese Academy of Geological Sciences,Beijing 10037,China||Key Laboratory for Stratigraphy and Paleontology,MNRC,Beijing 10037,ChinaYunnan Institute of Geological Survey,Kunming 650216,ChinaSchool of Earth Science and Engineering,Nanjing University,Nanjing 210093,ChinaDepartment of Earth Sciences,University College London,London WC1E 6BT,U.K.CAS and Shandong Province Key Laboratory of Experimental Marine Biology,Center for Ocean Mega-Science,Institute of Oceanology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Qingdao,Shandong 266071,ChinaInstitute of Geology,Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences,Beijing 10037,China
paleophytologybenthic saccular algaealgal evolutionNeoproterozoicJiucheng MemberJiangchuan BiotaYunnan Province
《地质学报（英文版）》 2024 (002)
311-323 / 13
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.42172035,42062005 and 41572024),the China Geological Survey(Grant No.DD20221648),Yunnan Province Science and Technology Department(Grant No.202305AD160031,202401AT070012)and the project entitled 1:50000 Regional Geological Survey of Dazhuang,Fabiao,Ditu,and Dianzhong Sheets in Yunnan Province(Grant No.D202207).We thank Professor Duan Delin(Institute of Oceanology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Qingdao)and Professor S.M.Awramik(University of California,Santa Barbara,USA)who provided the drawings of modern algae;and Dr.Lidya G.Tarhan(Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences,Yale University)and Dr.Susan Turner(Brisbane),who polished the text and put forward pertinent suggestions.Thin slice identification completed by Wuhan Sample Solution Analytical Technology Co.,Ltd.
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