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Ecdysozoan-like sclerites among Ediacaran microfossils

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2015

MAŁGORZATA MOCZYDŁOWSKA ,
GRAHAM E. BUDD  and
HEDA AGIĆ
MAŁGORZATA MOCZYDŁOWSKA*
Affiliation:
Uppsala University, Department of Earth Sciences, Palaeobiology, Villavägen 16, SE-75236 Uppsala, Sweden
GRAHAM E. BUDD
Affiliation:
Uppsala University, Department of Earth Sciences, Palaeobiology, Villavägen 16, SE-75236 Uppsala, Sweden
HEDA AGIĆ
Affiliation:
Uppsala University, Department of Earth Sciences, Palaeobiology, Villavägen 16, SE-75236 Uppsala, Sweden
*
*Author for correspondence: malgo.vidal@pal.uu.se
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Abstract

We report the occurrence of organically preserved microfossils from the subsurface Ediacaran strata overlying the East European Platform in Poland, in the form of sclerites and cuticle fragments of larger organisms. They are morphologically similar to those known from Cambrian strata and associated with various metazoan fossils of recognized phyla. The Ediacaran age of the microfossils is evident from the stratigraphic position below the base of the Cambrian System and above the isotopically dated tuff layers at c. 551±4Ma. Within this strata interval, other characteristic Ediacaran microorganisms co-occur such as cyanobacteria, vendotaenids, microalgae, Ceratophyton, Valkyria and macroscopic annelidan Sabellidites. The recent contributions of organic sclerites in revealing the scope of the Cambrian explosion are therefore also potentially extendable back to the Ediacaran Period when animals first appear in the fossil record.

Keywords

Ediacaran metazoanssmall carbonaceous fossilsPolandorganic preservationrefractory biopolymers
Type
Rapid Communication
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 152 , Issue 6 , November 2015 , pp. 1145 - 1148
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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