Rutgersella

Rutgersella
Temporal range: Early Silurian
Rutgersella truexi.tif
Rutgersella truexi from the Early Silurian Shawangunk Formation of Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Genus:
Rutgersella

Johnson and Fox 1968
Species
  • Rutgersella truexi

Rutgersella truexi is a form species for problematic fossils of Early Silurian age in Pennsylvania. It has been of special interest because of its morphological similarity with the iconic Ediacaran fossil Dickinsonia, and may have been a late surviving vendobiont.[1]

Petrographic thin section of Rutgersella truexi from Early Silurian Shawangunk Formation of Pennsylvania

Description

Rutgersella truexi is a flat, segmented fossil, with both radial and bilateral symmetry like Dickinsonia, but with a shorter midline. The fossils are pyritized; some internal chambers are filled with chalcedony, so that they are preserved along with basal rhizines. According to Retallack, these observations suggest affinities with lichens, and perhaps the fungal phylum Glomeromycota.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Retallack, G.J. (2015). "Reassessment of the problematic fossil Rutgersella as another post-Ediacaran vendobiont". Alcheringa. 39 (4): 573–588. doi:10.1080/03115518.2015.1069483.

This page was last updated at 2021-01-21 12:48 UTC. Update now. View original page.

All our content comes from Wikipedia and under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.


Top

If mathematical, chemical, physical and other formulas are not displayed correctly on this page, please useFirefox or Safari