skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


Title: The rangeomorph fossil Charnia from the Ediacaran Shibantan biota in the Yangtze Gorges area, South China
Abstract The terminal Ediacaran Shibantan biota (~550–543 Ma) from the Dengying Formation in the Yangtze Gorges area of South China represents one of the rare examples of carbonate-hosted Ediacara-type macrofossil assemblages. In addition to the numerically dominant taxa—the non-biomineralizing tubular fossilWutubusand discoidal fossilsAspidellaandHiemalora, the Shibantan biota also bears a moderate diversity of frondose fossils, includingPteridinium,Rangea,Arborea, andCharnia. In this paper, we report two species of the rangeomorph genusCharnia, including the type speciesCharnia masoniFord, 1958 emend. andCharnia gracilisnew species, from the Shibantan biota. Most of the ShibantanCharniaspecimens preserve only the petalodium, with a few bearing the holdfast and stem. Despite overall architectural similarities to otherCharniaspecies, the Shibantan specimens ofCharnia gracilisn. sp. are distinct in their relatively straight, slender, and more acutely angled first-order branches. They also show evidence that may support a two-stage growth model and a epibenthic sessile lifestyle.Charniafossils described herein represent one of the youngest occurrences of this genus and extend its paleogeographic and stratigraphic distributions. Our discovery also highlights the notable diversity of the Shibantan biota, which contains examples of a wide range of Ediacaran morphogroups. UUID:http://zoobank.org/837216cd-4a4a-4e13-89e2-ee354ba48a4c  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2021207
PAR ID:
10540442
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Cambridge University Press
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of Paleontology
ISSN:
0022-3360
Page Range / eLocation ID:
1 to 17
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; ; ; ; ; (, Journal of Paleontology)
    Abstract This work presents a detailed taxonomic study on organic-walled microfossils from the Ediacaran Sete Lagoas Formation (Bambuí Group) at the Barreiro section in the Januária area of the São Francisco basin, Brazil. Seven species are described, includingSiphonophycus robustum(Schopf, 1968),Ghoshia januarensisnew species,Leiosphaeridia crassa(Naumova, 1949),Leiosphaeridia jacutica(Timofeev, 1966),Leiosphaeridia minutissima(Naumova, 1949),Leiosphaeridia tenuissimaEisenack, 1958, and Germinosphaera bispinosaMikhailova, 1986. These taxa are recovered for the first time in the Sete Lagoas Formation. They occur abundantly in the lower portion of the studied section, but onlyGhoshia januarensisis present in the upper part of the studied section, probably due to environmental or taphonomic changes.Leiosphaeridiaspecies, particularlyLeiosphaeridia minutissima, dominate the organic-walled microfossil assemblage. Although most taxa described here have long stratigraphic ranges, they are consistent with a terminal Ediacaran age as inferred from detrital zircon data and tubular fossils (e.g.,CloudinaandCorumbella) from the Sete Lagoas Formation. UUID:http://zoobank.org/7f92b900-0176-4da6-93a3-fd51edb22cbf 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; (, Journal of Paleontology)
    Abstract Silicified microfossils are reported from nine stratigraphic sections of the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation deposited in shelf margin, slope, and basin environments in Hunan Province of South China. These microfossils include sphaeromorphic and acanthomorphic acritarchs (15 genera and 29 species, including three new acanthomorph species,Bullatosphaera?colliformisn. sp.,Eotylotopalla inflatan. sp., andVerrucosphaera?undulatan. sp.), multicellular algae, tubular microfossils, and other problematic forms, representing major fossil groups similar to those from the Doushantuo Formation in more proximal facies (e.g., inner shelf and shelf lagoon). A database of the abundance and occurrences of Doushantuo acanthomorphs is assembled and analyzed using quantitative and data-visualization methods (e.g., rarefaction analysis, non-parametric multidimensional scaling, and network analysis). The results show that, at the genus and species levels, taxonomic richness of Doushantuo acanthomorphs exhibits considerable variation among facies, but this variation is largely due to sampling and taphonomic biases. The results also show that numerous acanthomorph taxa have broad facies distribution, affirming their biostratigraphic value. The analysis confirms that acanthomorphs in the Weng'an biota of shelf margin facies are composed of a mixture of Member II and Member III assemblages of shelf-lagoon facies in the Yangtze Gorges area. The study shows the biostratigraphic potential of acanthomorphs in the establishment of regional biozones using the first appearance datum of widely distributed taxa, highlighting the importance of continuing exploration of under-sampled Doushantuo sections in slope and basinal facies. UUID:http://zoobank.org/6fc92858-4054-4117-8043-1f06cfe77155 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ; ; ; ; (, Journal of Paleontology)
    Abstract Bituminous limestone of the Ediacaran Shibantan Member of the Dengying Formation (551–539 Ma) in the Yangtze Gorges area contains a rare carbonate-hosted Ediacara-type macrofossil assemblage. This assemblage is dominated by the tubular fossil Wutubus Chen et al., 2014 and discoidal fossils, e.g., Hiemalora Fedonkin, 1982 and Aspidella Billings, 1872, but frondose organisms such as Charnia Ford, 1958, Rangea Gürich, 1929, and Arborea Glaessner and Wade, 1966 are also present. Herein, we report four species of Arborea from the Shibantan assemblage, including the type species Arborea arborea (Glaessner in Glaessner and Daily, 1959) Glaessner and Wade, 1966, Arborea denticulata new species, and two unnamed species, Arborea sp. A and Arborea sp. B. Arborea arborea is the most abundant frond in the Shibantan assemblage. Arborea denticulata n. sp. resembles Arborea arborea in general morphology but differs in its fewer primary branches and lower length/width ratio of primary branches. Arborea sp. A and Arborea sp. B are fronds with a Hiemalora -type basal attachment. Sealing by microbial mats and authigenic cementation may have played an important role in the preservation of Arborea in the Shibantan assemblage. The Shibantan material of Arborea extends the stratigraphic, ecological, and taphonomic ranges of this genus. UUID: http://zoobank.org/554f21da-5f09-4891-9deb-cbc00c41e5f1 
    more » « less
  4. ; ; ; (, International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology)
    A Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped bacterial strain, designatedVibrio floridensisIRLE0018 (=NRRL B-65642=NCTC 14661), was isolated from a cyanobacterial bloom along the Indian River Lagoon (IRL), a large and highly biodiverse estuary in eastern Florida (USA). The results of phylogenetic, biochemical, and phenotypic analyses indicate that this isolate is distinct from species of the genusVibriowith validly published names and is the closest relative to the emergent human pathogen,Vibrio vulnificus. Here, we present the complete genome sequence ofV. floridensisstrain IRLE0018 (4 535 135 bp). On the basis of the established average nucleotide identity (ANI) values for the determination of different species (ANI <95 %), strain IRLE0018, with an ANI of approximately 92 % compared with its closest relative,V. vulnificus, represents a novel species within the genusVibrio. To our knowledge, this represents the first time this species has been described. The results of genomic analyses ofV. floridensisIRLE0018 indicate the presence of antibiotic resistance genes and several known virulence factors, however, its pathogenicity profile (e.g. survival in serum, phagocytosis avoidance) reveals limited virulence potential of this species in contrast toV. vulnificus. 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; ; ; (, Journal of the Geological Society)
    null (Ed.)
    The Shibantan Lagerstätte (551–543 Ma) in the Yangtse Gorges area in South China is one of the best-known examples of terminal Ediacaran fossil assemblages preserved in marine carbonate rocks. Taxonomically dominated by benthic organisms, the Shibantan Lagerstätte preserves various photoautotrophs, biomineralizing tubular fossils, Ediacara-type macrofossils (including rangeomorphs, arboreomorphs, erniettomorphs, palaeopascichnids, a possible dickinsoniomorph, the mobile bilaterian Yilingia and soft-bodied tubular fossils), abundant ichnofossils and a number of problematic and dubious fossils. Shibantan fossils provide intriguing insights into ecological interactions among mobile bilaterians, sessile benthic Ediacara-type organisms and microbial mats, thus offering important data to test various hypotheses accounting for the decline of the Ediacara biota and the concurrent expansion of bilaterian bioturbation and mobility across the Proterozoic–Phanerozoic transition. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email