Ovatoscutum ( lat. Ovatoscutum , from scutum ovatum “ovoid shield ”) - a genus of animals, a representative of the Ediacar biota . The shape resembles a rounded shield with concentric grooves converging to the triangular posterior line of the body. Furrows become wider when approaching the edges [1] [2] .
| † Ovatoscutum | |||||||||||||
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| International scientific name | |||||||||||||
Ovatoscutum Glaessner & Wade, 1966 | |||||||||||||
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† Ovatoscutum concentricum Glaessner et Wade, 1966 | |||||||||||||
The most numerous fossils were found in the area of the Flinders ridge ( Australia ) and on the White Sea coast ( Russia , Arkhangelsk region ). All finds belong to the same species Ovatoscutum concentricum .
The first findings of the ovatoscutum were made in 1966 by Martin Glessner and Mary Wade, and with some degree of uncertainty, are interpreted as free-floating chondrophores filled with air (one of the hydroid families). An argument in favor of this interpretation was the similarity of the ovoscutum prints to the Devonian plectodiscus ( lat. Plectodiscus ) and modern floating chondrophores Velella . Glessner and Wade noted, however, that no signs of a “sail” characteristic of these organisms were observed in the ovatoscutum [1] . In the future, it was suggested that the ovatoscutum was a pelagic chondrophore, although no significant evidence of this interpretation was found [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] .
The fossils of the ovatoscutum are negative prints on the sandstone sole and accompany the textures such as “elephant skin” and nodule structures characteristic of cyanobacterial mats . In a similar environment, fossils of other benthic ediacar fossils are found : ergy , andiva , dikinsony , tribrachidium , kimberella , parvankorina and others. As with other benthic animals, ovoscutum fossils often bear traces of in situ burial [7] . This contradicts the interpretation of the ovoscutum as pelagic or floating on the surface of the body.
M. Fedonkin attributed the ovatoscutum to the extinct bilateral type Proarticulata [8] [9] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Glaessner MF; Wade M. The late Precambrian fossils from Ediacara, South Australia (Eng.) // Palaeontology: journal. - 1966. - Vol. 9 , no. 4 . - P. 599 .
- ↑ 1 2 Fedonkin MA Systematic Description of Vendian Metazoa // Vendian System: Historical – Geological and Paleontological Foundation, Vol. 1: Paleontology. - Moscow: Nauka, 1985. - P. 70-106.
- ↑ Waggoner, BM Ediacaran Lichens: A Critique (English) // Paleobiology . - Paleontological Society 1995. - Vol. 21 , no. 3 . - P. 393-397 .
- ↑ Waggoner B .; Collins AG Reductio Ad Absurdum : Testing The Evolutionary Relationships Of Ediacaran And Paleozoic Problematic Fossils Using Molecular Divergence Dates (Eng.) // Journal of Paleontology : journal. - Paleontological Society 2004. - Vol. 78 , no. 1 . - P. 51–61 . - DOI : 10.1666 / 0022-3360 (2004) 078 <0051: RAATTE> 2.0.CO; 2 .
- ↑ Jenkins RJF Functional and ecological aspects of Ediacarian assemblages // Origin and early evolution of the Metazoa . - New York: Springer, 1992 .-- P. 131-176. - ISBN 0306440679 .
- ↑ Jensen, S .; Gehling, JG; Droser, ML; Grant, SWF A scratch circle origin for the medusoid fossil Kullingia (Eng.) // Lethaia: journal. - 2002. - Vol. 35 , no. 4 . - P. 291-299 . - DOI : 10.1080 / 002411602320790616 .
- ↑ Droser, M .; Gehling J., Jensen S. Assemblage palaeoecology of the Ediacara biota: The unabridged edition? (English) // Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology: journal. - 2006. - Vol. 232 . - P. 131-147 . - DOI : 10.1016 / j.palaeo.2005.12.015 . (inaccessible link)
- ↑ Fedonkin MA Andiva ivantsovi gen. et sp. n and related carapace-bearing Ediacaran fossils from the Vendian of the Winter Coast, White Sea, Russia (Eng.) // Italian Journal of Zoology: journal. - 2002. - Vol. 69 , no. 2 . - P. 175-181 . - DOI : 10.1080 / 11250000209356456 .
- ↑ Fedonkin MA The origin of the Metazoa in the light of the Proterozoic fossil record (Eng.) // Paleontological Research: journal. - 2003. - Vol. 7 , no. 1 . - P. 35 . - DOI : 10.2517 / prpsj.7.9 .