Francevillian Group Fossil
The Francevillian Group Fossil is representative of Palaeoproterozoic, macroscopic organisms which were roughly centimeter-sized, highly organized, spatially discrete, and which formed colonies. Their fossils are found in the west-African country of Gabon in the Palaeoproterozoic Francevillian B Formation, a 2.1-Gyr-old black shale province.[1]
The organism was 12 cm in size.[1] Their bodies were flattened disks with a characteristic morphology.[1] Their margins were scalloped and had radial slits.[2] They have an internal radial fabric.[2] The geochemistry of the fossil site indicates that they lived on the sediment under an oxygenated water column of a prograding delta, and they might have engaged in aerobic respiration.[1]
The lead author, Abderrazak El Albani, said, “The discovery is fantastic because it shows the existence of multicellular fauna 1.5 billion years earlier than what we know. … This is important to understand the evolution of life on Earth.”[3][4]
Charles Darwin predicted that fossils would be found in the Precambrian rocks. The discovery of these fossils adds to the Precambrian fossil record, and satisfies his predictions about evolutionary history.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 El Albani, Abderrazak; Bengtson, Stefan; Canfield, Donald E.; Bekker, Andrey; Macchiarelli, Reberto; Mazurier, Arnaud; Hammarlund, Emma U.; Boulvais, Philippe et al. (July 2010). "Large colonial organisms with coordinated growth in oxygenated environments 2.1 Gyr ago". Nature 466 (7302): 100–104. doi:10.1038/nature09166. PMID 20596019.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Donoghue, Philip C. J.; Antcliffe, Jonathan B. (July 2010). "Early Life: Origins of multicellularity". Nature 466 (7302): 41–42. doi:10.1038/466041a. PMID 20596008.
- ↑ Dickey, Gwyneth. "African fossils suggest complex life arose early", Science News, Washington, D.C., Wednesday, June 30th, 2010. Retrieved on 2010-07-02.
- ↑ Complex, Multicellular Life from Over Two Billion Years Ago Discovered ScienceDaily (July 1, 2010)