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Morphological reconstruction of Miaohephyton bifurcatum, a possible brown alga from the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation, South China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

Shuhai Xiao ,
Andrew H. Knoll  and
Xunlai Yuan
Shuhai Xiao
Affiliation:
1Botanical Museum, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambrige, Massachusetts 02138,
Andrew H. Knoll
Affiliation:
1Botanical Museum, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambrige, Massachusetts 02138,
Xunlai Yuan
Affiliation:
2Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Academia Sinica, Nanjing 210008, People's Republic of China
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Abstract

On the basis of morphological and taphonomic study of a large sample population, Miaohephyton bifurcatum Steiner, emend. from the terminal Proterozoic Doushantuo Formation (600-550 Ma), South China, is interpreted as algal fragments shed from their parent thalli for reproductive or environmental reasons. Characters such as regularly dichotomous, multicellular thalli with forked tips, apical and intercalary meristematic growth, abscission structures, and possible conceptacles collectively suggest an affinity with the brown algae, in particular the order Fucales. In conjunction with reports of xanthophyte fossils in older Neoproterozoic rocks, this reinterpretation of Miaohephyton bifurcatum indicates that photosynthetic stramenopiles (chrysophytes, synurophytes, xanthophytes, phaeophytes, and diatoms; or chromophytes sensu stricto) diversified during the Neoproterozoic Era along with the red and green algae. This, in turn, suggests that the secondary endosymbiosis that gave rise to the photosynthetic stramenopiles took place relatively soon after the evolutionary transformation of cyanobacteria to rhodophyte plastids.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 72 , Issue 6 , November 1998 , pp. 1072 - 1086
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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