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Tawuia

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Tawuia
Temporal range: Statherian to Cambrian Stage 3, 1630–518 Ma
Fossil specimen, Geological Museum of China
Scientific classification Edit this classification
(unranked): incertae sedis
Genus: Tawuia
H.J.Hofmann, 1979
Reconstruction as a slime mold-like organism
Tawuia with epibionts
A reconstruction of Tawuia as a coenocytic macroalgae with epibionts.

Tawuia is a millimetric disc-shaped, most likely multicellular macrofossil from the Neoproterozoic. It is considered to be synonymous with Chuaria and Longfengshania, which, in turn, are thought to represent different life stages of the same organism.[1]

Tawuia describes a more sausage- or crescent-shaped fossil; Chuaria refers to more discoidal instances.

The fossils are often preserved as organic compressions. They are considered to represent microbial structures;[1] some authors affiliate them with slime molds[1]. Stratigraphically, they range from 1,630 million years ago[2] to the early Cambrian[3]

Chuaria is multicellular.

References

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  1. ^ a b c Teyssèdre, B. (2003), "Trois classes de fossiles precambriens pour un meme taxon", Comptes Rendus Palevol (in French), 6 (503): 508–510, doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2003.09.023[dead link]
  2. ^ Srivastava, P.; Bali, R. (2006). "Proterozoic carbonaceous remains from the Chorhat Sandstone: oldest fossils of the Vindhyan Supergroup, Central India". Geobios. 39 (6): 873–878. Bibcode:2006Geobi..39..873S. doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2006.02.001.
  3. ^ Li, Rui-Yun; Fu, Dong-Jing; Zhang, Xing-Liang (22 December 2022). "Chuaria Walcott from the early Cambrian Qingjiang biota: a taxon persisted for billions of years". Palaeoworld. 33 (1): 11–21. doi:10.1016/j.palwor.2022.12.008.