A tiny parasite of unicellular microorganisms from the Lower Devonian Rhynie and Windyfield cherts, Scotland

Krings, Michael und Kerp, Hans (2019): A tiny parasite of unicellular microorganisms from the Lower Devonian Rhynie and Windyfield cherts, Scotland. In: Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, Bd. 271, UNSP 104106

Abstract

Small inclusions of dear chert within silicified substrate from the Lower Devonian Rhynie and Windyfield localities in Scotland contain several different types of microbial fossils. The commonest type, formally described in this study as Anechosoma oblongum nov. gen. et sp., is a simple unicellular organism, ellipsoidal to oblong, smooth-walled, and <20 mu m long, with possible affinities to the Glaucophyta or Chlorophyta. A thin-walled envelope surrounds some of the specimens;others occur in clusters of 2-8 within a common envelope. Approximately 10% of the specimens are infected by Rhyniovexator penetrans nov. gen. et sp., a tiny parasite - perhaps a chytrid or member of the Aphelida - consisting of an epibiotic, spheroidal vesicle <4 mu m in diameter on a long, narrow, tubular structure that breaches the host wall. Although the systematic affinities of A. oblongum and R. penetrans cannot be fully evaluated, this discovery provides important new information on the intricate relationships that existed between the different constituents of the microbial communities comprising the plankton in pools and ponds and colonizing various surfaces in the Rhynie paleoecosystem. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Geowissenschaften > Department für Geo- und Umweltwissenschaften
• Themengebiete: 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik > 550 Geowissenschaften, Geologie
• ISSN: 0034-6667
• Sprache: Englisch