Longfengshania

Longfengshania
Temporal range: Statherian–Early Cambrian
Reconstruction of Longfengshania stipitata as an alga
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): incertae sedis
Genus: †Longfengshania
Du in Du et Tian, 1982
Type species
† Longfengshania longipetiolata
emend. Niu, 2019
Species
  • L. stipitata (Du in Du et Tian, 1982)
  • L. elongata (Du et Duan, 1983)
  • L. ovalis (Du et Duan, 1983)
  • L. longipetiolata (Du and Tian, 1985)
  • L. spheria (Du et Tian, 1986)
  • L. gemmiforma (Du et Tian, 1986)
  • L. qingbaikouensis (Xiao, 1990)
  • L. stenophylla (Tang, 1995)
  • L. minima (Ding in Ding et al., 1996)
  • L. ellipticulum (Chen et al., 1999)
  • L. cordata (Xu, 2002)
  • L. fusiformis (Tang et al., 2007)
  • L. dicrana (Du et al., 2009)
  • L. foliolatusa (Du et al., 2009)
  • L. fungorumis (Liu, 2018)
  • L. brachypodus (Niu, 2019)
  • L. subelliptica (Niu, 2019)

Longfengshania is an extinct genus of enigmatic eukaryote known from fossils ranging between the Statherian and the early Cambrian. Among the previously identified pre-Cryogenian macroalgae, Longfengshania is unique due to it possessing a stipe, blade, and holdfast-like structure.

Discovery

Fossils of Longfengshania were first discovered from the Longshan Formation of Yanshan County, Hebei in North China, and was formally described and named in 1982.

Description

Longfengshania from the Ancanping assemblage of the Doushantuo Formation

Longfengshania is most commonly found as an oval to discoidal blade sitting on top of a usually thin stipe. Specimens from the Shiwangzhuang and Jiuliqiao formations have probable holdfasts at the base of this stipe.

There is a wide range of sizes between species of Longfengshania, with the largest specimens coming from the Longshan Formation, bearing blades up to 13 mm (0.5 in) long and stipes up to 20 mm (0.8 in) long. The smallest specimens come from the Doushantuo Formation, with blades up to 0.7 mm (0.0 in) or less in diameter.

Distribution

Longfengshania has a notably wide geographical range, being found across in formations five paleo-continents, such as the early Ediacaran aged Ancanping Assemblage in the lower sections of the Doushantuo Formation in South China, the late Ediacaran aged Dengying Formation also in South China,the Mesoproterozoic to Tonian aged Longshan, Jiuliqiao, and Shiwangzhuag Formations in North China, as well as the Tonian aged Changlongshan Formation in South China, the Ediacaran aged Liuchapo Formation in Central China, the Cambrian aged Maotianshan Shales in South China, the Ediacaran aged Sirbu Shale and Nagod Limestone of the wider Vindhyan Supergroup in Central India, the Tonian aged Little Dal Group of the Mackenzie Mountains in Northwest Canada, as well as in the Khatyspyt Formation in Siberia, Russia.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Li, Guang-Jin; Chen, Lei; Pang, Ke; Tang, Qing; Wu, Cheng-Xi; Huang, Rui; Qiu, Ming-Yang; Yuan, Xun-Lai; Zhou, Chuan-Ming (October 2024). "Macroalgal fossil Longfengshania from the Tonian Shiwangzhuang and Jiuliqiao formations in western Shandong and northern Anhui, North China". Palaeoworld. 33 (5): 1153–1169. Bibcode:2024Palae..33.1153L. doi:10.1016/j.palwor.2023.09.009. ISSN 1871-174X. S2CID 264114141.
  2. ↑ "Longfengshania R.L.Du, 1982". Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
  3. ↑ Tang, Feng; Song, Xueliang; Yin, Chongyu; Liu, Pengju; Awramik, S. M.; Wang, Ziqiang; Gao, Linzhi (May 2007). "Discoveries of new Longfengshaniaceae from the uppermost Ediacaran in eastern Yunnan, South China and the significance". Frontiers of Earth Science in China. 1 (2): 142–149. Bibcode:2007FrESC...1..142T. doi:10.1007/s11707-007-0018-1. eISSN 1673-7490. ISSN 1673-7385. S2CID 128523006.
  4. ↑ Du, R.L.; Tian, L. (1982). "A special type of late Precambrian algal fossils from the North China–Longfengshania". ournal of Heibei Institute of Geology (in Chinese): 7–13.
  5. ↑ Ye, Qin; An, Zhihui; Chen, Sishuo; Long, Xin; Xiao, Shuhai (5 October 2026). "Early Ediacaran micro- and macro-fossils from South China provide insights into post-Snowball Earth marine ecosystem". Communications Biology. doi:10.1038/s42003-026-11094-y.
  6. ↑ Zhao, Mingsheng; Zhang, Yupeng; Tang, Feng; Li, Yulan; Li, Ming; Zhong, Ling; Ren, Liudong (March 2025). "Enigmatic discoidal macrofossils with central ring from the Ediacaran Jiangchuan biota, Southwest China". Papers in Palaeontology. 11 (2). Bibcode:2025PPal...11E0005Z. doi:10.1002/spp2.70005.
  7. ↑ Li, Gaorong; Wei, Fan; Wen, Wenwen; Wang, Xiaodong; Lei, Xiangtong; Anderson, Ross P.; Zhao, Yang; Dunn, Frances S.; Parry, Luke A.; Cong, Peiyun (2 April 2026). "The dawn of the Phanerozoic: A transitional fauna from the late Ediacaran of Southwest China". Science. 392 (6793): 63–68. doi:10.1126/science.adu2291.
  8. ↑ Niu, S. (15 August 2019). "More on the morphological characteristics and systematic texology of genus Longfengshania". Geological Bulletin of China (in Chinese). 38 (9): 1259–1265. doi:10.12097/gbc.dztb-38-8-1259.
  9. ↑ Xiao, Zongzheng (28 October 1990). "DISCOVERY OF MACROSCOPIC ALGAE-CHUARIDS ON WEST HILLS NEAR BEIJING CITY". Chinese Journal of Geology (in Chinese). 25 (4). Chinese Journal of Geology: 403–407. ISSN 0563-5020.
  10. ↑ Chen, X.H.; Wang, X.F.; Wang, C.S.; Li, Z.H.; Chen, L.D. (1999). "A preliminary study in carbonaceous megafossils from the late Sinian Liuchapo Formation of west Hunan". Geology and Mineral Resources of South China (in Chinese). 3: 15–30.
  11. ↑ Li, Gaorong; Wei, Fan; Guo, Jin; Cong, Peiyun (2024). "Macroalgae from the early Cambrian Chengjiang biota". Papers in Palaeontology. 10 (5) e1585. Bibcode:2024PPal...10E1585L. doi:10.1002/spp2.1585. ISSN 2056-2802.
  12. ↑ V.K., Singh; R., Babu; M., Shukla (December 2009). "Discovery of carbonaceous remains from the Neoproterozoic shales of Vindhyan Supergroup, India". Journal of Evolutionary Biology Research. 1: 1–17.
  13. ↑ Hofmann, H.J. (1985). "The mid-Proterozoic Little Dal macrobiota, Mackenzie Mountains, north-west Canada". Palaeontology. 28: 331–354.
  14. ↑ Bykova, Natalia; LoDuca, Steven T.; Ye, Qin; Marusin, Vasiliy; Grazhdankin, Dmitriy; Xiao, Shuhai (November 2020). "Seaweeds through time: Morphological and ecological analysis of Proterozoic and early Paleozoic benthic macroalgae". Precambrian Research. 350: 105875. doi:10.1016/j.precamres.2020.105875.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: article number as page number (link)