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

AUTOR(ES)

Chen, Jun-Yuan

FONTE

The National Academy of Sciences

RESUMO

Putative fossil embryos and larvae from the Precambrian phosphorite rocks of the Doushantuo Formation in Southwest China have been examined in thin section by bright field and polarized light microscopy. Although we cannot completely exclude a nonbiological or nonmetazoan origin, we identified what appear to be modern cnidarian developmental stages, including both anthozoan planula larvae and hydrozoan embryos. Most importantly, the sections contain a variety of small (≤200 μm) structures that greatly resemble gastrula stage embryos of modern bilaterian forms.

Documentos Relacionados

• Complex embryos displaying bilaterian characters from Precambrian Doushantuo phosphate deposits, Weng'an, Guizhou, China
• From exoticism to diversity: the production of difference in a globalized and fragmented world
• The Stratification of Diversity: Measuring the Hierarchy of Brazilian Political Science
• The Diversity of Diversity: further methodological considerations on the use of the concept in cultural economics
• Neotropical catfish diversity: an historical perspective