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Raman spectra of a Lower Cambrian ctenophore embryo from southwestern Shaanxi, China.

ABSTRACT: The Early Cambrian (approximately 540 million years old) Meishucun fossil assemblage of Ningqiang County (Shaanxi Province), China, contains the oldest complex skeletonized organisms known in the geological record. We here report the finding in this assemblage of an exquisitely preserved late-stage embryo of a ctenophore ("comb jelly"), its fine structure documented by confocal laser scanning microscopy and shown by Raman spectroscopy to be composed of carbonaceous kerogen permineralized in apatite. In its spheroidal morphology, the presence of eight comb rows and the absence of tentacles, this embryo resembles an adult ctenophore (Maotianoascus octonarius) known from the immediately younger Chengjiang fauna of Yunnan, China. The oldest ctenophore and the only embryonic comb jelly known from the fossil record, this exceptionally well preserved specimen provides important clues about the early evolution of the phylum Ctenophora and of metazoans in general.

SUBMITTER: Chen JY

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1847456 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Raman spectra of a Lower Cambrian ctenophore embryo from southwestern Shaanxi, China.

Chen Jun-Yuan JY Schopf J William JW Bottjer David J DJ Zhang Chen-Yu CY Kudryavtsev Anatoliy B AB Tripathi Abhishek B AB Wang Xiu-Qiang XQ Yang Yong-Hua YH Gao Xiang X Yang Ying Y

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20070402 15

The Early Cambrian (approximately 540 million years old) Meishucun fossil assemblage of Ningqiang County (Shaanxi Province), China, contains the oldest complex skeletonized organisms known in the geological record. We here report the finding in this assemblage of an exquisitely preserved late-stage embryo of a ctenophore ("comb jelly"), its fine structure documented by confocal laser scanning microscopy and shown by Raman spectroscopy to be composed of carbonaceous kerogen permineralized in apat ...[more]

PMID: 17404242

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Dataset Information

Raman spectra of a Lower Cambrian ctenophore embryo from southwestern Shaanxi, China.

Publications

Raman spectra of a Lower Cambrian ctenophore embryo from southwestern Shaanxi, China.

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