Fossilisation processes and our reading of animal antiquity.

Autor: Anderson RP; Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3AN, UK; All Souls College, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 4AL, UK. Electronic address: ross.anderson@earth.ox.ac.uk., Woltz CR; Department of Earth Science, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA; Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA., Tosca NJ; Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EQ, UK., Porter SM; Department of Earth Science, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA., Briggs DEG; Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Yale Peabody Museum, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Trends in ecology & evolution [Trends Ecol Evol] 2023 Nov; Vol. 38 (11), pp. 1060-1071. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Jun 27.
DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2023.05.014
Abstrakt: Estimates for animal antiquity exhibit a significant disconnect between those from molecular clocks, which indicate crown animals evolved ∼800 million years ago (Ma), and those from the fossil record, which extends only ∼574 Ma. Taphonomy is often held culpable: early animals were too small/soft/fragile to fossilise, or the circumstances that preserve them were uncommon in the early Neoproterozoic. We assess this idea by comparing Neoproterozoic fossilisation processes with those of the Cambrian and its abundant animal fossils. Cambrian Burgess Shale-type (BST) preservation captures animals in mudstones showing a narrow range of mineralogies; yet, fossiliferous Neoproterozoic mudstones rarely share the same mineralogy. Animal fossils are absent where BST preservation occurs in deposits ≥789 Ma, suggesting a soft maximum constraint on animal antiquity.
Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors have no interests to declare.
(Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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