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 |
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Language: | English |
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Uppsala universitet, Paleobiologi
2023
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ftuppsalauniv:oai:DiVA.org:uu-517949 2024-01-14T10:07:16+01:00 Organic-walled microfossils from the lower Cambrian of North Greenland : a reappraisal of diversity Wallet, Elise Slater, Ben Willman, Sebastian 2023 application/pdf http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-517949 https://doi.org/10.1080/01916122.2023.2251044 eng eng Uppsala universitet, Paleobiologi Palynology, 0191-6122, 2023, 47:4, orcid:0000-0002-5796-0139 orcid:0000-0002-5774-9114 orcid:0000-0002-1434-7131 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-517949 doi:10.1080/01916122.2023.2251044 ISI:001073963200001 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess acritarchs Cambrian Greenland taxonomy diversity disparity taphonomy Other Earth and Related Environmental Sciences Annan geovetenskap och miljövetenskap Geology Geologi Article in journal info:eu-repo/semantics/article text 2023 ftuppsalauniv https://doi.org/10.1080/01916122.2023.2251044 2023-12-20T23:31:55Z 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 Moczydlowska 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. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland North Greenland Uppsala University: Publications (DiVA) 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 |
Uppsala University: Publications (DiVA) |
op_collection_id |
ftuppsalauniv |
language |
English |
topic |
acritarchs Cambrian Greenland taxonomy diversity disparity taphonomy Other Earth and Related Environmental Sciences Annan geovetenskap och miljövetenskap Geology Geologi |
spellingShingle |
acritarchs Cambrian Greenland taxonomy diversity disparity taphonomy Other Earth and Related Environmental Sciences Annan geovetenskap och miljövetenskap Geology Geologi Wallet, Elise Slater, Ben Willman, Sebastian Organic-walled microfossils from the lower Cambrian of North Greenland : a reappraisal of diversity |
topic_facet |
acritarchs Cambrian Greenland taxonomy diversity disparity taphonomy Other Earth and Related Environmental Sciences Annan geovetenskap och miljövetenskap Geology Geologi |
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 Moczydlowska 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. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Wallet, Elise Slater, Ben Willman, Sebastian |
author_facet |
Wallet, Elise Slater, Ben Willman, Sebastian |
author_sort |
Wallet, Elise |
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 |
Uppsala universitet, Paleobiologi |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-517949 https://doi.org/10.1080/01916122.2023.2251044 |
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_relation |
Palynology, 0191-6122, 2023, 47:4, orcid:0000-0002-5796-0139 orcid:0000-0002-5774-9114 orcid:0000-0002-1434-7131 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-517949 doi:10.1080/01916122.2023.2251044 ISI:001073963200001 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1080/01916122.2023.2251044 |
container_title |
Palynology |
container_volume |
47 |
container_issue |
4 |
_version_ |
1788061674796744704 |