Ediacaran algal cysts from the Doushantuo Formation, South China

Early-middle Ediacaran organic-walled microfossils from the Doushantuo Formation studied in several sections in the Yangtze Gorges area, South China, show ornamented cyst-like vesicles of very high diversity. These microfossils are diagenetically permineralized and observed in petrographic thin-sections of chert nodules. Exquisitely preserved specimens belonging to seven species of Appendisphaera, Mengeosphaera, Tanarium, Urasphaera and Tianzhushania contain either single or multiple spheroidal internal bodies inside the vesicles. These structures indicate reproductive stages, endocyst and dividing cells, respectively, and are preserved at early to late ontogenetic stages in the same taxa. This new evidence supports the algal affiliations for the studied taxa and refutes previous suggestions of Tianzhushania being animal embryo or holozoan. The first record of a late developmental stage of a completely preserved specimen of T. spinosa observed in thin-section demonstrates the interior of vesicles with clusters of identical cells but without any cavity that is diagnostic for recognizing algal cysts vs animal diapause cysts. Various lines of evidence to infer biological affinities of these microfossils – morphology, reproductive characters, spatial arrangement of cells, and biochemical properties of the vesicle wall – are collectively characteristic of algal clades. Recognizing the biological affinities of these microfossils is key to understanding whether animals capable of producing such morphologically complex diapause cysts had an early Ediacaran fossil record (633–610 Ma), or the microfossils were non-animal holozoans or algae as argued herein for Tianzhushania spinosa and other studied microfossils.

Three-dimensional reconstructions of the putative metazoanNamapoikiashow that it was a microbial construction

Strata from the Ediacaran Period (635 million to 538 million years ago [Ma]) contain several examples of enigmatic, putative shell-building metazoan fossils. These fossils may provide insight into the evolution and environmental impact of biomineralization on Earth, especially if their biological affinities and modern analogs can be identified. Recently, apparent morphological similarities with extant coralline demosponges have been used to assign a poriferan affinity toNamapoikia rietoogensis, a modular encrusting construction that is found growing between (and on) microbial buildups in Namibia. Here, we present three-dimensional reconstructions ofNamapoikiathat we use to assess the organism’s proposed affinity. Our morphological analyses, which comprise quantitative measurements of thickness, spacing, and connectivity, reveal thatNamapoikiaproduced approximately millimeter-thick meandering and branching/merging sheets. We evaluate this reconstructed morphology in the context of poriferan biology and determine thatNamapoikialikely is not a sponge-grade organism.