A putative triradial macrofossil from the Ediacaran Jiangchuan Biota

Summary: The late Ediacaran Jiangchuan biota, from the Dengying Formation in eastern Yunnan, is well-known for its diverse macroalgal fossils, opening a window onto eukaryotic-dominated ecosystems from the late Neoproterozoic of South China. Although multiple lines of evidence suggest that metazoans...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:iScience
Main Authors: Mingsheng Zhao, Giovanni Mussini, Yulan Li, Feng Tang, Patricia Vickers-Rich, Ming Li, Ailin Chen
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024
Subjects:
Fossil geochemistry
Ecology
Evolutionary biology
Science
Q
White Sea
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.108823
https://doaj.org/article/05f9517cc95846ebb65334d8c7ad7d72
Description
Summary:Summary: The late Ediacaran Jiangchuan biota, from the Dengying Formation in eastern Yunnan, is well-known for its diverse macroalgal fossils, opening a window onto eukaryotic-dominated ecosystems from the late Neoproterozoic of South China. Although multiple lines of evidence suggest that metazoans had already evolved by the late Ediacaran, animal fossils have not yet been formally described from this locality. Here, we report a putative disc-shaped macrofossil from the Jiangchuan biota, Lobodiscus tribrachialis gen. et sp. nov. This specimen shows the triradial symmetry characteristic of trilobozoans, a group of Ediacaran macrofossils previously documented in Australia and Russia. Lobodiscus could record the youngest known occurrence of trilobozoans, strengthening taxonomic and ecological continuities between the Ediacaran “White Sea” and “Nama” assemblages. Our findings may expand the known paleogeographical distribution of trilobozoans and provide data for Ediacaran biostratigraphic correlations across the Yangtze block and globally, helping to track the diversification of early metazoan-grade organisms.

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