Anatomy of the Ediacaran rangeomorph Charnia masoni.

ABSTRACT: The Ediacaran macrofossil Charnia masoni Ford is perhaps the most iconic member of the Rangeomorpha: a group of seemingly sessile, frondose organisms that dominates late Ediacaran benthic, deep-marine fossil assemblages. Despite C. masoni exhibiting broad palaeogeographical and stratigraphical ranges, there have been few morphological studies that consider the variation observed among populations of specimens derived from multiple global localities. We present an analysis of C. masoni that evaluates specimens from the UK, Canada and Russia, representing the largest morphological study of this taxon to date. We describe substantial morphological variation within C. masoni and present a new morphological model for this species that has significant implications bot

SUBMITTER: Dunn FS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6472560 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature