Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Hua, H. Articles by Xiao, S. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Skeletogenesis and asexual reproduction in the earliest biomineralizing animal Cloudina

¹ Department of Geology and Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Northwest University, Xi'an 710069, China
² Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Nanjing 210008, China
³ Xi'an Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, Xi'an 710054, China
⁴ Department of Geosciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA

The tubular fossil Cloudina is emerging as an important Ediacaran index fossil. However, its morphology, skeletogenesis, reproduction, and phylogenetic affinity have not been fully resolved. New material from the Dengying Formation of south China confirms that Cloudina tubes consist of eccentrically and sometimes deeply nested funnels and that the tubes lack transverse cross-walls, inconsistent with the traditional cone-in-cone morphological reconstruction. Tube walls are composed of micrometer-sized, more or less equant crystals. A number of Cloudina tubes branch dichotomously, in which daughter funnels split within parent ones. The Cloudina animal is interpreted to have been able to initiate biomineralization of new funnels within old ones. Its skeleton was probably secreted as calcite crystals suspended in organic matrix; the crystals do not appear to have nucleated and grown on a sheeted substrate. It was clearly capable of asexual reproduction, through budding within parent funnels rather than at the apertural end. The morphology, skeletogenesis, and asexual reproduction of Cloudina are broadly similar to modern serpulid annelids, indicating possible phylogenetic relationships or morphological convergence.

Key Words: Cloudina • skeletogenesis • asexual reproduction • Ediacaran System • Dengying Formation • south China

This article has been cited by other articles:

				B. SHEN, S. XIAO, C. ZHOU, and X. YUAN YANGTZIRAMULUS ZHANGI NEW GENUS AND SPECIES, A CARBONATE-HOSTED MACROFOSSIL FROM THE EDIACARAN DENGYING FORMATION IN THE YANGTZE GORGES AREA, SOUTH CHINA Journal of Paleontology, July 1, 2009; 83(4): 575 - 587. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. LIU, S. XIAO, C. YIN, F. TANG, and L. GAO SILICIFIED TUBULAR MICROFOSSILS FROM THE UPPER DOUSHANTUO FORMATION (EDIACARAN) IN THE YANGTZE GORGES AREA, SOUTH CHINA Journal of Paleontology, July 1, 2009; 83(4): 630 - 633. [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. A. McFadden, J. Huang, X. Chu, G. Jiang, A. J. Kaufman, C. Zhou, X. Yuan, and S. Xiao Pulsed oxidation and biological evolution in the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation PNAS, March 4, 2008; 105(9): 3197 - 3202. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. SHEN, S. XIAO, L. DONG, C. ZHOU, and J. LIU PROBLEMATIC MACROFOSSILS FROM EDIACARAN SUCCESSIONS IN THE NORTH CHINA AND CHAIDAM BLOCKS: IMPLICATIONS FOR THEIR EVOLUTIONARY ROOTS AND BIOSTRATIGRAPHIC SIGNIFICANCE Journal of Paleontology, November 1, 2007; 81(6): 1396 - 1411. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Xiao, B. Shen, C. Zhou, G. Xie, and X. Yuan A uniquely preserved Ediacaran fossil with direct evidence for a quilted bodyplan PNAS, July 19, 2005; 102(29): 10227 - 10232. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]