Three-dimensional preservation of algae and animal embryos in a Neoproterozoic phosphorite

@article{Xiao1998ThreedimensionalPO,
  title={Three-dimensional preservation of algae and animal embryos in a Neoproterozoic phosphorite},
  author={Shuhai Xiao and Yun Zhang and Andrew H. Knoll},
  journal={Nature},
  year={1998},
  volume={391},
  pages={553-558}
}
Phosphorites of the late Neoproterozoic (570 ± 20 Myr BP) Doushantuo Formation, southern China, preserve an exceptional record of multicellular life from just before the Ediacaran radiation of macroscopic animals. Abundant thalli with cellular structures preserved in three-dimensional detail show that latest-Proterozoic algae already possessed many of the anatomical and reproductive features seen in the modern marine flora. Embryos preserved in early cleavage stages indicate that the divergence… 
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664 Citations

Experimental mineralization of crustacean eggs: new implications for the fossilization of Precambrian–Cambrian embryos

Experiments on eggs of the marbled crayfish Procambarus indicate a close link between early mineralization and rapid anaerobic decay of the endochorional envelope and the mechanisms of decay, preservation of surface structures, and mineral replacement in the experiment were likely similar during fossilization of Cambrian embryos.

Precambrian animal diversity: putative phosphatized embryos from the Doushantuo Formation of China.

Putative fossil embryos and larvae from the Precambrian phosphorite rocks of the Doushantuo Formation in Southwest China have been examined in thin section and identified what appear to be modern cnidarian developmental stages, including both anthozoan planula larvae and hydrozoan embryos.

Experimental mineralization of invertebrate eggs and the preservation of Neoproterozoic embryos

It is shown that rapid mineralization of invertebrate eggs is possible under laboratory conditions, and it is demonstrated that eggs, and probably small embryos, can be preserved in the absence of larger organisms as a source of phosphorus or calcium.

Eumetazoan fossils in terminal proterozoic phosphorites?

  • S. XiaoX. YuanA. Knoll
  • Geography, Environmental Science
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
  • 2000
Evidence for Doushantuo eumetazoans is provided by millimeter-scale tubes that display tabulation and apical budding characteristic of some Cnidaria, especially the extinct tabulates.

Modular Construction of Early Ediacaran Complex Life Forms

Newly discovered, exceptionally preserved, soft-bodied fossils near Spaniard's Bay in eastern Newfoundland exhibit features not previously described from Ediacaran (terminal Neoproterozoic) fossils.…

Experimental precipitation of apatite pseudofossils resembling fossil embryos

Certain phosphatic grains preserved in the rock record are interpreted as microfossils representing a diversity of microorganisms from bacteria to fossil embryos. In addition to bona fide primary…

PHOSPHATIZED ANIMAL EMBRYOS FROM THE NEOPROTEROZOIC DOUSHANTUO FORMATION AT WENG'AN, GUIZHOU, SOUTH CHINA

Phosphorites of the uppermost Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation exposed at Weng'an, South China, contain globular microfossils characterized by distinctively sculpted outer coverings and precise patterns of cell division, which support their reinterpretation as the eggs and embryos of early animals.

Complex embryos displaying bilaterian characters from Precambrian Doushantuo phosphate deposits, Weng'an, Guizhou, China

These embryos provide further evidence for the presence of bilaterian animals in the Doushantuo biota and indicate that the last common ancestor of the bilaterians lived much earlier than is usually thought.

Biological and taphonomic implications of Ediacaran fossil embryos

Fossil preservation in the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo phosphorite Lagerstatte, South China.

The same processes that gave rise to Phanerozoic phosphatized Lagerstatten--phosphatic encrustation, and impregnation, probably mediated by microbial activity--effected soft-tissue preservation in the Doushantuo Lagerstatte.
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