Decimetre-scale multicellular eukaryotes from the 1.56-billion-year-old Gaoyuzhuang Formation in North China

Shixing Zhu; Maoyan Zhu; Andrew H. Knoll; Zongjun Yin; Fangchen Zhao; Shufen Sun; Yuangao Qu; Min Shi; Huan Liu

doi:10.1038/ncomms11500

Nature Communications (May 2016)

Decimetre-scale multicellular eukaryotes from the 1.56-billion-year-old Gaoyuzhuang Formation in North China

Shixing Zhu,
Maoyan Zhu,
Andrew H. Knoll,
Zongjun Yin,
Fangchen Zhao,
Shufen Sun,
Yuangao Qu,
Min Shi,
Huan Liu

Affiliations

Shixing Zhu: Tianjin Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, China Geological Survey
Maoyan Zhu: State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Andrew H. Knoll: Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University
Zongjun Yin: State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Fangchen Zhao: State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Shufen Sun: Tianjin Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, China Geological Survey
Yuangao Qu: Centre for Geobiology, University of Bergen
Min Shi: State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences
Huan Liu: Tianjin Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, China Geological Survey

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11500
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 7, no. 1
pp. 1 – 8

Abstract

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Macroscopic organisms are rare in the fossil record until the Ediacaran Period, beginning 635 million years ago. Here, Zhu et al. report the discovery of 1.56-billion-year-old carbonaceous compression fossils that provide evidence of the evolution of macroscopic, multicellular eukaryotes long before the Ediacaran Period.

Published in Nature Communications

ISSN: 2041-1723 (Online)
Publisher: Nature Portfolio
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Science
Website: https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

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