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

Nature volume 391, pages 553–558 (1998)Cite this article

Abstract

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 of lineages leading to bilaterians may have occurred well before their macroscopic traces or body fossils appear in the geological record. Discovery of these fossils shows that the early evolution of multicellular organisms is amenable to direct palaeontological inquiry.

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Figure 1: Location and generalized stratigraphy of the fossiliferous Weng'an section in Guizhou Province, South China.
Figure 2: Algal thalli from the Doushantuo phosphorite and the modern bangiophyte red alga, Prophyra suborbiculata.
Figure 3: Parenchymatous and pseudoparenchymatous thalli from the Doushantuo phosphorite.
Figure 4: Reproductive structures in Doushantuo thalli and a modern red alga.
Figure 5: Fossil embryos preserving different stages of cleavage from the Doushantuo phosphorite.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Y. Leiming for field assistance, E. Seling for technical help and S. Bengtson, D. McHugh, R. M. Woollacott, S. J. Gould, C. Nielsen, E. Ruppert, E. Davidson, A. Cameron and J. Henry for discussions and comments. This work was partly supported by grants from NSFC (to Y.Z.) and NSF (to A.H.K.).

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  1. Botanical Museum, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, 02138, Massachusetts, USA

    Shuhai Xiao & Andrew H. Knoll

  2. College of Life Sciences, Beijing University, Beijing, 100871, People's Republic of China

    Yun Zhang

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Xiao, S., Zhang, Y. & Knoll, A. Three-dimensional preservation of algae and animal embryos in a Neoproterozoic phosphorite. Nature 391, 553–558 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/35318

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