TAPHONOMY OF THE UPPER EDIACARAN ENIGMATIC RIBBONLIKE FOSSIL SHAANXILITHES
Abstract
Shaanxilithes ningqiangensis is an enigmatic ribbon-shaped fossil from the upper Ediacaran Gaojiashan Member of the Dengying Formation, southern Shaanxi Province, South China. This taxon has also been reported from Ediacaran successions in North China and possibly in Siberia, making it a potential index fossil for interregional biostratigraphic correlation of upper Ediacaran successions. At Gaojiashan, Shaanxilithes ningqiangensis is often preserved along bedding planes of phosphate-rich silty and calcareous shale, with no evidence of vertical intrusion into adjacent beds and containing little to no carbonaceous material. Here, through detailed microstructural and microchemical investigation using a combination of analytical techniques, taphonomic details of Shaanxilithes ningqiangensis and potentially related forms are revealed, showing that these enigmatic fossils are preserved as clay molds. Together with other taphonomic features, such as abruptly bent ribbons, overlapping but not crosscutting ribbons, and co-occurring discoidal structures interpreted as disarticulated sections of the original organism, the new data suggest that Shaanxilithes ningqiangensis is a body fossil consisting of serially arranged units that are discoidal, lensoidal, or crescentic in shape. Shaanxilithes ningqiangensis is not a trace fossil as some previous researchers have suggested.
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Higher BIs indicated recently for the Ediacaran consist of serially repeated elements identical to problematic body fossils, arguing against a trace-fossil origin.
“Higher BIs have been indicated recently for the Ediacaran [23], but the illustrated structures consist of serially repeated elements, identical to those in problematic body fossils such as Helanoichnus , Palaeopascichnus and Shaanxilithes [24], arguing against a trace-fossil origin [25].”
From Decoupling of body-plan diversification and ecological structuring during the Ediacaran–Cambrian transition: evolutionary and geobiological feedbacks (2014) · cites this paper as [24]
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Self-citation
- Authors
- MEYER, M., SCHIFFBAUER, J. D., XIAO, S., CAI, Y., & HUA, H.
- Affiliations
- 1 Department of Geosciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA, meygeo@vt.edu, xiao@vt.edu;
- Virginia Tech (US)
- Northwest University (CN)
- Venue
- Palaios
- Publisher
- Society for Sedimentary Geology
- Published
- 2012-05-01
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 354-372
- ISSN
- 0883-1351 (ISSN-L)
- 1938-5323
- OpenAlex
- W2117774979
- Cited by
- 98
- References
- 14
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 7.81
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Palaios (publishedVersion)
- BioOne Complete (BioOne) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Institute for Critical Technologies and Applied Science, Virginia Tech
- Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Evolution and Paleontology Studies
- Keywords
- clay molds, Dengying Formation, biostratigraphic correlation, body fossils, trace fossils, Ediacaran biota
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