Discovery of a Miaohe-type Biota from the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation in Jiangkou County, Guizhou Province, China

摘要

A megascopic algal fossil assemblage was first discovered by" Ma Guogan and Chen Meng'e in the black shales of the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation in Miaohe Town. Zigui County, Hubei Province in 1978[1]. Formal naming of the Miaohe Biota was proposed by Cheng Meng'e and Xiao Zongzheng in 1991~[2], and eleven morphological genera have been previously described, including megascopic algae and putative metazoans~[3]. Dins et al.[4]) greatly expanded the scope of the Miaohe Biota to 9 phyla consisting of 140 genera, including microphytoplanctons, megascopic algae, metazoans, sponges and trace fossils. Xiao et al.[5] further restudied this fossil assemblage, concluding that only about 18 distinct taxa could be recognized and that many Miaohe taxa are poorly defined or synonymous.