Journal Article10.1126/SCIENCE.1099727
Modular Construction of Early Ediacaran Complex Life Forms
TL;DR: Newly discovered, exceptionally preserved, soft-bodied fossils near Spaniard's Bay in eastern Newfoundland exhibit features not previously described from Ediacaran (terminal Neoproterozoic) fossils.
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Abstract: Newly discovered, exceptionally preserved, soft-bodied fossils near Spaniard9s Bay in eastern Newfoundland exhibit features not previously described from Ediacaran (terminal Neoproterozoic) fossils. All of the Spaniard9s Bay taxa were composed of similar architectural elements—centimeter-scale frondlets exhibiting three orders of fracticality in branching. Frondlets were combined as modules atop semi-rigid organic skeletons to form a wide array of larger constructions, including frondose and plumose structures. This architecture and construction define the “rangeomorphs,” a biological clade that dominated the Mistaken Point assemblage (575 to 560 million years ago) but does not appear to be ancestral to any Phanerozoic or modern organisms.
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Citations
Before programs: the physical origination of multicellular forms.
TL;DR: It is shown that the expected morphologies that would arise during this relatively unconstrained "physical" stage of evolution correspond to the hollow, multilayered and segmented morphotypes seen in the gastrulation stage embryos of modern-day metazoa as well as in Ediacaran fossil deposits of approximately 600 Ma.
Poriferan paraphyly and its implications for Precambrian palaeobiology
TL;DR: It is demonstrated, in accordance with previous molecular studies, that sponges are paraphyletic, and that calcisponge are more closely related to eumetazoans than they are to demosponges.
214
Dynamical patterning modules: a "pattern language" for development and evolution of multicellular form
Stuart A. Newman,Ramray Bhat +1 more
TL;DR: It is proposed that DPMs, acting singly and in combination with each other, constitute a "pattern language" capable of generating all metazoan body plans and organ forms, and implies that the multicellular organisms of the late Precambrian-early Cambrian were phenotypically plastic.
209
Ancient steroids establish the Ediacaran fossil Dickinsonia as one of the earliest animals
Ilya Bobrovskiy,Janet M. Hope,Andrey Ivantsov,Benjamin J. Nettersheim,Christian Hallmann,Christian Hallmann,Jochen J. Brocks +6 more
TL;DR: Lipid biomarkers extracted from organically preserved Ediacaran macrofossils unambiguously clarify their phylogeny, indicating that the appearance of the Ediacara biota was indeed a prelude to the Cambrian explosion of animal life.
201
Darwin's dilemma: the realities of the Cambrian 'explosion'
TL;DR: It is proposed that despite its step-like function this evolutionary event is the inevitable consequence of Earth and biospheric change.
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Three-dimensional preservation of algae and animal embryos in a Neoproterozoic phosphorite
TL;DR: 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.
749
Microbial mats in terminal Proterozoic siliciclastics; Ediacaran death masks
TL;DR: A variety of sedimentary structures and patterns in Proterozoic siliciclastic sedimentary rocks cannot be explained by known inorganic processes as discussed by the authors, and they are demonstrably the mechanical products of microbially bound sediment and microbial mats.
640
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Vendobionta and Psammocorallia: lost constructions of Precambrian evolution
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