Large Ornamented Ediacaran Microfossil

	Large Ornamented Ediacaran Microfossil Large ornamented Ediacaran microfossils are microscopic acritarchs, usually over 100 μm in diameter, which are common in sediments of the Ediacaran period, . They largely disappear from the Ediacaran period fossil record before , roughly coeval with the origin of the Ediacara biota. They differ from Palaeozoic microfossils in many respects; they are larger, often have internal contents, have a differently-constructed cell wall, and differ in shape. Affinity The affinity of large ornamented Ediacaran microfossils is a matter of current research. Like the resting cysts of some animals, these microfossils have three layers in their cell walls. If large ornamented Ediacaran microfossils represent animal resting stages, this would be consistent with frequent periods of oceanic anoxia in the Ediacaran period, which disappear in the Cambrian period. They are much larger than any known dinoflagellate The dinoflagellates (Greek δῖνος ''dinos'' "whirling" and Latin ''flagel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu]
picture info	Acritarch Acritarchs are organic microfossils, known from approximately 1800 million years ago to the present. The classification is a catch all term used to refer to any organic microfossils that cannot be assigned to other groups. Their diversity reflects major ecological events such as the appearance of predation and the Cambrian explosion. Definition Acritarchs were originally defined as non-acid soluble (i.e. non-carbonate, non-siliceous) organic-walled microfossils consisting of a central cavity, and whose biological affinities cannot be determined with certainty. Most commonly they are composed of thermally altered acid insoluble carbon compounds (kerogen). Acritarchs may include the remains of a wide range of quite different kinds of organisms—ranging from the egg cases of small metazoans to resting cysts of many kinds of chlorophyta (green algae). It is likely that most acritarch species from the Paleozoic represent various stages of the life cycle of algae that were ancestral ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu]
picture info	Ediacara Biota The Ediacaran (; formerly Vendian) biota is a taxonomic period classification that consists of all life forms that were present on Earth during the Ediacaran Period (). These were composed of enigmatic tubular and frond-shaped, mostly sessile, organisms. Trace fossils of these organisms have been found worldwide, and represent the earliest known complex multicellular organisms. The Ediacaran biota may have undergone evolutionary radiation in a proposed event called the Avalon explosion, . This was after the Earth had thawed from the Cryogenian period's extensive glaciation. This biota largely disappeared with the rapid increase in biodiversity known as the Cambrian explosion. Most of the currently existing body plans of animals first appeared in the fossil record of the Cambrian rather than the Ediacaran. For macroorganisms, the Cambrian biota appears to have almost completely replaced the organisms that dominated the Ediacaran fossil record, although relationships are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu]
picture info	Dinoflagellate The dinoflagellates (Greek δῖνος ''dinos'' "whirling" and Latin ''flagellum'' "whip, scourge") are a monophyletic group of single-celled eukaryotes constituting the phylum Dinoflagellata and are usually considered algae. Dinoflagellates are mostly marine plankton, but they also are common in freshwater habitats. Their populations vary with sea surface temperature, salinity, and depth. Many dinoflagellates are photosynthetic, but a large fraction of these are in fact mixotrophic, combining photosynthesis with ingestion of prey (phagotrophy and myzocytosis). In terms of number of species, dinoflagellates are one of the largest groups of marine eukaryotes, although substantially smaller than diatoms. Some species are endosymbionts of marine animals and play an important part in the biology of coral reefs. Other dinoflagellates are unpigmented predators on other protozoa, and a few forms are parasitic (for example, ''Oodinium'' and ''Pfiesteria''). Some dinoflagellates pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu]