【作者】 蔡耀平； 华洪； 肖书海； 张录易；

【Author】 Yaoping Cai~1 Hong Hua~(1,2) Shuhai Xiao~3 Luyi Zhang~4 1.Early Life Institute,State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics,and Department of Geology,Northwest University,Xi’an 710069,China 2.Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Nanjing 210008,China 3.Department of Geological Sciences,Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,Blacksburg,VA 24061,USA 4.Xi’an Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources,Xi’an 710054,China

【机构】 西北大学地质系大陆动力学国家重点实验室早期生命研究所； 美国弗吉尼亚州立大学理工学院地球科学系； 西安地质矿产研究所；

【摘要】 <正>The Late Ediacaran Gaojiashan biota in the Ningqiang County of southern Shaanxi province is characterized by the uniquely three-dimensional preservation of pyritized fossil tubes.Conotubus, known as the typical representative of the Gaojiashan fossils,is of great importance on the studies of Neoproterozoic paleontology and paleoecology as well as exceptional Ediacaran Konservat-Lagerst(?)tten taphonomy.Morphological and paleoecological constrains on the pyritized Conotubus fossil tubes indicate that the funnel-in-funnel morphology habit,which is the most diagnostic morphology characteristic of the well-known first skeletonized terminal Neoproterozoic animal,Cloudina,has been demonstrated to be one of the typical body structures of Conotubus.Hence, we suggested that Conotubus is possibly a type of specialized Cloudina-like fossil adapted to relatively deeper water environments that below the maximum storm wave base and with very lower oxygen content.Pyritized Conotubus fossil tubes are essentially preserved in fine-grained siliciclastic sediments,parallel or with a lower angle to the bedding plane.However,new investigations indicated that this type of fossil tubes was subjected to varying degree of storm winnowing(Cai et al.,in review),thus we argued that its original lifestyle habitats was erected.According to the lifestyles of mat-related Ediacaran animals proposed by Seilacher,Cloudina was considered to be a mat sticker. We sugsest that Conotubus must have to be a possible mat sticker resembled to Seilacher’s hypothesis, on the basis of biostratinomic investigations and morphological habit.And the original lifestyle of Conotubus was suggested to be erect and with one-third of the apical part of the conical tube penetrated into the muddy substrate,as evidence by the ubiquitous biostratinomic status of Conotubus tubes that with the most curved point appropriately at the one-third part of the tube itself conically.更多还原

【Abstract】 The Late Ediacaran Gaojiashan biota in the Ningqiang County of southern Shaanxi province is characterized by the uniquely three-dimensional preservation of pyritized fossil tubes.Conotubus, known as the typical representative of the Gaojiashan fossils,is of great importance on the studies of Neoproterozoic paleontology and paleoecology as well as exceptional Ediacaran Konservat-Lagerst(?)tten taphonomy.Morphological and paleoecological constrains on the pyritized Conotubus fossil tubes indicate that the funnel-in-funnel morphology habit,which is the most diagnostic morphology characteristic of the well-known first skeletonized terminal Neoproterozoic animal,Cloudina,has been demonstrated to be one of the typical body structures of Conotubus.Hence, we suggested that Conotubus is possibly a type of specialized Cloudina-like fossil adapted to relatively deeper water environments that below the maximum storm wave base and with very lower oxygen content.Pyritized Conotubus fossil tubes are essentially preserved in fine-grained siliciclastic sediments,parallel or with a lower angle to the bedding plane.However,new investigations indicated that this type of fossil tubes was subjected to varying degree of storm winnowing(Cai et al.,in review),thus we argued that its original lifestyle habitats was erected.According to the lifestyles of mat-related Ediacaran animals proposed by Seilacher,Cloudina was considered to be a mat sticker. We sugsest that Conotubus must have to be a possible mat sticker resembled to Seilacher’s hypothesis, on the basis of biostratinomic investigations and morphological habit.And the original lifestyle of Conotubus was suggested to be erect and with one-third of the apical part of the conical tube penetrated into the muddy substrate,as evidence by the ubiquitous biostratinomic status of Conotubus tubes that with the most curved point appropriately at the one-third part of the tube itself conically.更多还原