Original paper
Rhyniotaxillus minutulus n. sp., a pico-sized colonial cyanobacterium from the 410-million-yr-old Windyfield chert of Scotland
Krings, Michael
Nova Hedwigia Band 113 Heft 1-2 (2021), p. 17 - 31
65 references
published: Aug 20, 2021
published online: Jun 17, 2021
manuscript accepted: Apr 26, 2021
manuscript received: Apr 16, 2021
DOI: 10.1127/nova_hedwigia/2021/0638
ArtNo. ESP050011301001
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Abstract
Pico-sized cyanobacteria [average cell size 0.2–2(–3) µm] have not been hitherto reported from the Lower Devonian Rhynie and Windyfield cherts. Microscopic examination of a section of the Windyfield chert at high magnification has recently yielded fossils of a cyanobacterium with cells 0.6–1.2 µm in diameter that formed cuboid to rounded colonies of up to 64 cells surrounded by prominent gelatinous envelopes. Because colony morphology parallels that seen in the much larger Rhynie chert cyanobacterium Rhyniotaxillus devonicus, the new form is interpreted as another species of Rhyniotaxillus, and the name Rh. minutulus is proposed for it. Rhyniotaxillus minutulus has features in common with Entophysalis (Chroococcales) and its Precambrian fossil equivalent Eoentophysalis; however, the systematic affinity remains unresolved. This discovery opens a new page in the documentation of the cyanobacterial biodiversity in the Rhynie paleoecosystem by adding to the inventory the first pico-sized form.
Keywords
cuboid colony • Early Devonian • Entophysalis • EPS envelope • fossil cyanobacteria • Rhynie chert • Rhyniotaxillus devonicus