Charnia
| Charnia | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Charnia fossil |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||
| Ediacarium | ||||||
| 575 to 550 million years | ||||||
| Locations | ||||||
| Systematics | ||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||
| Charnia | ||||||
| Ford , 1958 | ||||||
| species | ||||||
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Charnia is a genus of extinct creatures from the geological age of the Ediacarium . These fern-leaf-like creatures, the systematic classification of which is controversial, are among the earliest representatives of the so-called Ediacara fauna . Their fossilized remains are among the oldest macrofossils at all. Charnia owes its name tothe Charnwood Forest in England , from which the first fossil finds came.
features
The representatives of the genus Charnia resemble an elongated fern leaf in appearance. In addition, they have a disc-shaped foot, which probably served as a holder on the sea floor. They reached a length of up to two meters.
Their representatives Charnia masoni , Charnia wardi and Charnia antecedens differ in shape and size.
Systematics
The systematic classification of Charnia is controversial in science. Originally, Charnia was interpreted as a genus of algae . Most of the time, Charnia is assigned to the realm of multicellular animals. Similarities with today's sea feathers are striking, although there is probably no direct relationship. According to an alternative hypothesis, Charnia belongs to the extinct tribe of the Vendobionts , which are interpreted, among other things, as gigantic unicellular organisms and assigned to the protozoa or to a taxon of sessile organisms known as Rangeomorpha , which were characterized by a fractal-like growth.
Discovery story
Roger Mason is usually named as the discoverer of Charnia , who in 1957 at the age of 16 found fossil remains of these creatures while climbing a mountain in Charwood Forest together with two friends. Roger Mason showed these to the geologist Trevor D. Ford and his publication in the Journal of the Yorkshire Geological Society received international attention. However, Roger Mason was not the first to discover these fossils. A year earlier they were discovered by the student Tina Negus without receiving further recognition.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Ford TD: Pre-cambrian fossils from charnwood forest . In: Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society . 31, September 1958, pp. 211-217. doi : 10.1144 / pygs.31.3.211 .
- ↑ Antcliffe, Jonathan B., Brasier, Martin D .: Charnia and sea pens are poles apart . In: Journal of the Geological Society . 164, 2007, pp. 49-51.
- ↑ Seilacher A, Grazhdankin D, Legouta A: Ediacaran biota: The dawn of animal life in the shadow of giant protists . In: Paleontological Research . 7, No. 1, 2003, pp. 43-54.
- ↑ Guy M. Narbonne (Aug 2004): Modular Construction of Early Ediacaran Complex Life Forms . Science , Volume 305, pp. 1141-1144, doi: 10.1126 / science.1099727
- ^ Roger Mason: The discovery of Charnia masoni . In: Leicester's fossil celebrity: Charnia and the evolution of early life 2007.