Archaeichnium is a member of the Ediacaran biota (635-542 Ma) first described by Martin Glaessner in 1963.[1][2] It is characterized as a tubular fossil found in the Nama group (570-543 Ma) of South West Africa.
| Archaeichnium Temporal range:
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|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Porifera |
| Clade: | †Archaeocyatha |
| Genus: | †Archaeichnium |
| Species: | †A. haughtoni
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| Binomial name | |
| †Archaeichnium haughtoni Glaessner, 1963
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Description edit
Archaeichnium is a tube-shaped fossil that may be preserved as hollow or infilled tubes. The overall shape of the tube is slightly tapered at one end so that it is vaguely conical. The structure is typically between 3–5 cm long with a 0.5 cm diameter, and the walls of the tube are 0.1 cm thick. Typically, the tubes exhibit longitudinal ribbing on the exterior, which creates 10-12 distinct "ribs". Archaeichnium also has latitudinal restrictions that organize it into approximately three sections cranio-caudally. When cross-sectioned, the tube lacks septae. The fossil is typically found in cross-bedded sandstone that is interpreted as a shallow marine depositional environment. Walls of the tube are typically agglutinated with small quartz grains.
Diversity edit
Archaeichnium haughtoni is the only described species of Archaeichnium.
Discovery edit
The rock containing the fossil that would eventually be named Archaeichnium haughtoni was first discovered in 1927 by Dr. H. F. Frommurze and S. H. Haughton while the two were doing geological mapping in Southwest Africa.[3] The rock was found in the Nama group of Cambrian age in Central/ Southern Namibia. In 1959, Haughton published the paper that described the fossils as early archaeocyathids, a taxon of sedentary reef-building organisms that doesn't usually appear in the fossil record until the late Cambrian.[3] However, in 1963 Martin Glaessner revisited the rocks and determined that the fossilized animals did not actually distinctly possess the features that would classify it as an archaeocyathid, nor did he find it to share features with any known species. Glaessner dubbed the fossil anew as Archaeichnium haughtoni [4]
Distribution edit
Archaeichnium fossils are found in the Nasep quartzite stratigraphic unit within the Nama group[5] at the following sites:
See also edit
References edit
- ^ "Fossilworks: Archaeichnium". fossilworks.org. Fossilworks. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- ^ Glaessner, M F; Glaessner, M. F. (1978). "Re-examination of Archaeichnium, a fossil from the Nama Group". Annals of the South African Museum. Annale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum. 74. Biodiversity Heritage Library: 335–342. Retrieved 2020-01-04.
- ^ a b Haughton, S. H. (1960-01-01). "An Archaeocyathid from the Nama System". Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa. 36 (1): 57–59. doi:10.1080/00359196009519032. ISSN 0035-919X.
- ^ a b Glaessner, Martin F. (1962). "Zur Kenntnis der Nama-Fossilien Südwest-Afrikas". Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien. 66: 113–120. ISSN 0083-6133. JSTOR 41769170.
- ^ Germs, Gerard J. B. (1974-05-01). "The Nama Group in South West Africa and Its Relationship to the Pan-African Geosyncline". The Journal of Geology. 82 (3): 301–317. Bibcode:1974JG.....82..301G. doi:10.1086/627966. ISSN 0022-1376. S2CID 129569826.
- ^ Smith, E. F.; Nelson, L. L.; Tweedt, S. M.; Zeng, H.; Workman, J. B. (2017-07-12). "A cosmopolitan late Ediacaran biotic assemblage: new fossils from Nevada and Namibia support a global biostratigraphic link". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 284 (1858): 20170934. doi:10.1098/rspb.2017.0934. PMC 5524506. PMID 28701565.
- ^ Crimes, T. Peter; Germs, Gerard J. B. (1982). "Trace Fossils from the Nama Group (Precambrian-Cambrian) of Southwest Africa (Namibia)". Journal of Paleontology. 56 (4): 890–907. ISSN 0022-3360. JSTOR 1304708.
- ^ Gehling, James G.; Droser, Mary L. (2013-04-01). "How well do fossil assemblages of the Ediacara Biota tell time?". Geology. 41 (4): 447–450. Bibcode:2013Geo....41..447G. doi:10.1130/G33881.1. ISSN 0091-7613.