Discovery of branched tubular algae and microscopic tubes with annular-helical thickening from the Mesoproterozoic Ruyan
Most previously reported Mesoproterozoic (1600-1000 Ma) fossils are from silicified carbonates, and they are commonly small in size (15-20 μm), ranging from coccoids to filaments in morphology. Many of them can be interpreted as cyanobacteria. Carbonaceous shales represent another source of palaeontological information of the Mesoproterozoic biosphere.Sphaeromorphic and acanthomorphic acritarchs, as well as filamentous fossils, are common in many Mesoproterozoic shales. Here we report an unusual assemblage of tubular fossils from the Meosproterozoic Ruyang Group in Shanxi, North China. Some of these tubes are branched.Others bear annular-helical thickening that might be represented by one extinct algae to adapt to a desiccating environment.
作 者： Yin Leiming BIAN Lizeng YUAN Xunlai 作者单位： Yin Leiming,YUAN Xunlai(Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China)BIAN Lizeng(Department of Earth Sciences, Nanjing University, Naniing 210093, China)
刊 名： 中国科学D辑(英文版) SCI 英文刊名： SCIENCE IN CHINA SERIES D:EARTH SCIENCES 年，卷(期)： 2004 47(10) 分类号： Q9 关键词： Shanxi Mesoproterozoic tubular branching alga helical tubes