A New Idea of Sinian Doushantuo'an Metaphyte Fossils from Xiuning, Anhui Province

摘要

This paper gives a summary of the fossil data from the Sinian Doushantuo’ an Lantian Formation in the Xiuning area, Anhui Province, China, and reports the genital butt structure comparable to that of some modern advanced algae and the fossil structure comparable to the dehiscence of sporangia as well as the ontogenetic phenomenon occurring possibly from the formation of embryos by zygote germination to the production of sessile benthonic algal adults. This phenomenon furnishes a useful clue to the further study of the life history of alternate generations in advanced algae and provides megafossil evidence for the sex differentiation of metaphytic algae.