Life history and autecology of an Ediacaran index fossil: Development and dispersal of Cloudina
Life history and autecology of an Ediacaran index fossil: Development and dispersal of Cloudina
复制标题
埃迪卡拉指数化石的生活史和自生态学：Cloudina 的发展和传播
DOI：
10.1016/j.gr.2014.05.001
复制
发表时间：
2015-08-01
影响因子：
6.1
通讯作者：
Xiao, Shuhai
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Cortijo, Ivan;Cai, Yaoping;Xiao, Shuhai
Cloudina是埃迪卡拉纪晚期最著名的生物矿化后生动物和潜在的指标化石，但其生物学的许多方面仍然知之甚少。以前的报道表明，Cloudina管生长从一个基部封闭的漏斗（或顶端元素），偶尔二叉分支。华南灯影组埃迪卡拉纪北湾段的新材料包括两种不同的形态类型--圆形和尖锥形管。在分枝标本中，其中一个子枝倾向于有一个圆锥形的顶端。据推测，具有球形顶端的云顶虫来自有性生殖，其球形末端代表胚壳，而具有圆锥形顶端的云顶虫是通过无性生殖从其母管分离的子枝。这些解释意味着，Cloudina可以进行有性和无性繁殖，分别产生球形胚壳和锥形繁殖体。这种策略可能有助于增强扩散，这对于早期群居和定居动物（如Cloudina）的生态成功至关重要。(C)2014年国际冈瓦纳研究协会。Elsevier B. V.出版，保留所有权利。
Cloudina is the best-known biomineralizing metazoan and a potential index fossil in the late Ediacaran Period, yet many aspects of its biology remain poorly understood. Previous reports have shown that Cloudina tubes grow from a basally closed funnel (or apical element), with occasional dichotomous branching. New material from the Ediacaran Beiwan Member of the Dengying Formation, South China, includes two distinct morphotypes-tubes with rounded versus pointed conical apices. In branching specimens, one of the daughter branches tends to have a conical apex. It is hypothesized that cloudinids with a spherical apex were derived from sexual reproduction, with their spherical termination representing the embryonic shell, whereas those with a conical apex are daughter branches detached from their parent tubes through asexual reproduction. These interpretations imply that Cloudina could reproduce both sexually and asexually, producing spherical embryonic shells and conical propagules, respectively. This strategy may have served to enhance dispersal, which was critical for the ecological success of early gregarious and sedentary animals such as Cloudina. (C) 2014 International Association for Gondwana Research. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.