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Nature 391, 553-558 (5 February 1998) | doi:10.1038/35318; Received 29 December 1997; Accepted 15 January 1998

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

Shuhai Xiao1, Yun Zhang2 & Andrew H. Knoll1

  1. Botanical Museum, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
  2. College of Life Sciences, Beijing University, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China

Correspondence to: Andrew H. Knoll1 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to A.H.K.>

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Phosphorites of the late Neoproterozoic (570 plusminus 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.

  1. Botanical Museum, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
  2. College of Life Sciences, Beijing University, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China

Correspondence to: Andrew H. Knoll1 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to A.H.K.>