A coccoid, colony-forming cyanobacterium from the Lower Devonian Rhynie chert that resembles Eucapsis (Synechococcales) and Entophysalis (Chroococcales)

Krings, Michael und Sergeev, Vladimir N. (2019): A coccoid, colony-forming cyanobacterium from the Lower Devonian Rhynie chert that resembles Eucapsis (Synechococcales) and Entophysalis (Chroococcales). In: Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, Bd. 268: S. 65-71

Abstract

The Rhynie chert provides sublime fossils of cyanobacteria from an Early Devonian hot spring ecosystem. However, only a small fraction of the diversity has been documented. Rhyniotaxillus devonicus nov. gen. et sp., a minute coccoid cyanobacterium from the Rhynie chert, is characterized by cuboid to somewhat irregular colonies of up to 64 cells (cell diameter: 2.5-3.5 mu m) arranged into sarcinoid packages, and held together by prominent gelatinous envelopes. Colony morphology parallels that seen in certain present-day species of Eucapsis (Synechococcales) and Entophysalis (Chroococcales), as well as Eoentophysalis belcherensis. a Precambrian fossil equivalent of Entophysalis. The systematic affinities of R. devonicus remain unresolved. Nevertheless, this discovery expands our knowledge of cyanobacterial diversity in early non-marine ecosystems. (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