Organic-Walled Microfossils from the Lower Cambrian of North Greenland: A Reappraisal of Diversity
The early Cambrian Buen Formation (North Greenland) hosts an exceptionally rich fossil biota that has contributed significantly to our knowledge of early metazoans, yet the fossil remains of primary producers from this deposit have received less attention. Here we examine the palynological component...
Published in: | Palynology |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
AASP: The Palynological Society
2023
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1080/01916122.2023.2251044 |
id |
ftbioone:10.1080/01916122.2023.2251044 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftbioone:10.1080/01916122.2023.2251044 2024-06-02T08:07:28+00:00 Organic-Walled Microfossils from the Lower Cambrian of North Greenland: A Reappraisal of Diversity Elise Wallet Ben J. Slater Sebastian Willman Elise Wallet Ben J. Slater Sebastian Willman world 2023-10-18 text/HTML https://doi.org/10.1080/01916122.2023.2251044 en eng AASP: The Palynological Society doi:10.1080/01916122.2023.2251044 All rights reserved. https://doi.org/10.1080/01916122.2023.2251044 Text 2023 ftbioone https://doi.org/10.1080/01916122.2023.2251044 2024-05-07T00:50:56Z The early Cambrian Buen Formation (North Greenland) hosts an exceptionally rich fossil biota that has contributed significantly to our knowledge of early metazoans, yet the fossil remains of primary producers from this deposit have received less attention. Here we examine the palynological component of the Buen Formation, with a focus on acritarchs and filamentous microfossils. Our analysis revealed the presence of 49 form taxa, 15 of which are described for the first time in the Buen Formation. These include large elements of presumably benthic origin, together with cyst-like acritarchs. Comasphaeridium longispinosum Vidal 1993 is renamed Comasphaeridium? brillesensis nom. nov., and Comasphaeridium densispinosum Vidal 1993 is reassigned to a new genus, Pearisphaeridium, becoming Pearisphaeridium densispinosum comb. nov. The diagnoses of Pearisphaeridium densispinosum (Vidal 1993) comb. nov. and Skiagia pura Moczydłowska 1988 are emended. Further, careful analysis of disparity in the recovered assemblage has revealed the presence of numerous transitional morphologies among the recorded acritarch form taxa. Though some of these transitional forms likely represent biologically meaningful entities (e.g. life cycle stages, ecophenotypes), others appear to have been artificially generated by taphonomic processes. Accounting for taphonomic factors and other sources of morphological variation has curtailed diversity down to 30 acritarch morphotypes, ten of which represent distinct abundance peaks broadly corresponding to acritarch genera. This analysis illustrates how population-based studies of early Cambrian acritarchs can help to discern the different factors that impinge on acritarch morphology, detect instances of taxonomic inflation, and refine our measures of diversity at the base of early Palaeozoic food webs. Text Greenland North Greenland BioOne Online Journals Greenland Pura ENVELOPE(86.736,86.736,72.965,72.965) Vidal ENVELOPE(19.625,19.625,69.461,69.461) Palynology 47 4 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
BioOne Online Journals |
op_collection_id |
ftbioone |
language |
English |
description |
The early Cambrian Buen Formation (North Greenland) hosts an exceptionally rich fossil biota that has contributed significantly to our knowledge of early metazoans, yet the fossil remains of primary producers from this deposit have received less attention. Here we examine the palynological component of the Buen Formation, with a focus on acritarchs and filamentous microfossils. Our analysis revealed the presence of 49 form taxa, 15 of which are described for the first time in the Buen Formation. These include large elements of presumably benthic origin, together with cyst-like acritarchs. Comasphaeridium longispinosum Vidal 1993 is renamed Comasphaeridium? brillesensis nom. nov., and Comasphaeridium densispinosum Vidal 1993 is reassigned to a new genus, Pearisphaeridium, becoming Pearisphaeridium densispinosum comb. nov. The diagnoses of Pearisphaeridium densispinosum (Vidal 1993) comb. nov. and Skiagia pura Moczydłowska 1988 are emended. Further, careful analysis of disparity in the recovered assemblage has revealed the presence of numerous transitional morphologies among the recorded acritarch form taxa. Though some of these transitional forms likely represent biologically meaningful entities (e.g. life cycle stages, ecophenotypes), others appear to have been artificially generated by taphonomic processes. Accounting for taphonomic factors and other sources of morphological variation has curtailed diversity down to 30 acritarch morphotypes, ten of which represent distinct abundance peaks broadly corresponding to acritarch genera. This analysis illustrates how population-based studies of early Cambrian acritarchs can help to discern the different factors that impinge on acritarch morphology, detect instances of taxonomic inflation, and refine our measures of diversity at the base of early Palaeozoic food webs. |
author2 |
Elise Wallet Ben J. Slater Sebastian Willman |
format |
Text |
author |
Elise Wallet Ben J. Slater Sebastian Willman |
spellingShingle |
Elise Wallet Ben J. Slater Sebastian Willman Organic-Walled Microfossils from the Lower Cambrian of North Greenland: A Reappraisal of Diversity |
author_facet |
Elise Wallet Ben J. Slater Sebastian Willman |
author_sort |
Elise Wallet |
title |
Organic-Walled Microfossils from the Lower Cambrian of North Greenland: A Reappraisal of Diversity |
title_short |
Organic-Walled Microfossils from the Lower Cambrian of North Greenland: A Reappraisal of Diversity |
title_full |
Organic-Walled Microfossils from the Lower Cambrian of North Greenland: A Reappraisal of Diversity |
title_fullStr |
Organic-Walled Microfossils from the Lower Cambrian of North Greenland: A Reappraisal of Diversity |
title_full_unstemmed |
Organic-Walled Microfossils from the Lower Cambrian of North Greenland: A Reappraisal of Diversity |
title_sort |
organic-walled microfossils from the lower cambrian of north greenland: a reappraisal of diversity |
publisher |
AASP: The Palynological Society |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1080/01916122.2023.2251044 |
op_coverage |
world |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(86.736,86.736,72.965,72.965) ENVELOPE(19.625,19.625,69.461,69.461) |
geographic |
Greenland Pura Vidal |
geographic_facet |
Greenland Pura Vidal |
genre |
Greenland North Greenland |
genre_facet |
Greenland North Greenland |
op_source |
https://doi.org/10.1080/01916122.2023.2251044 |
op_relation |
doi:10.1080/01916122.2023.2251044 |
op_rights |
All rights reserved. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1080/01916122.2023.2251044 |
container_title |
Palynology |
container_volume |
47 |
container_issue |
4 |
_version_ |
1800752550960431104 |