Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2012

Publication Title

Geology

Abstract

Foraminifera are an ecologically important group of modern heterotrophic amoeboid eukaryotes whose naked and testate ancestors are thought to have evolved ~1 Ga ago. However, the single-chambered agglutinated tests of these protists appear in the fossil record only after ca. 580 Ma, coinciding with the appearance of macro scopic and mineralized animals. Here we report the discovery of small, slender tubular microfossils in the Sturtian (ca. 716-635 Ma) cap carbonate of the Rasthof Formation in Namibia. The tubes are 200-1300 μm long and 20-70μm wide, and preserve apertures and variably wide lumens, folds, constrictions, and ridges. Their sometimes fl exible walls are composed of carbonaceous material and detrital minerals. This combination of morphological and compositional characters is also present in some species of modern single-chambered agglutinated tubular foraminiferans, and is not found in other agglutinated eukaryotes. The preservation of possible early Foraminifera in the carbonate rocks deposited in the immediate aftermath of Sturtian low-latitude glaciation indicates that various morphologically modern protists thrived in microbially dominated ecosystems, and contributed to the cycling of carbon in Neoproterozoic oceans much before the rise of complex animals. © 2012 Geological Society of America.

Volume

40

Issue

1

First Page

67

Last Page

70

DOI

10.1130/G32535.1

ISSN

00917613

Rights

© 2012 Geological Society of America.

Comments

Archived as published. Open access article

Included in

Geology Commons

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