Protomelission is an early dasyclad alga and not a Cambrian bryozoan

Jie Yang, Tian Lan, Xi-guang Zhang () and Martin R. Smith ()
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Jie Yang: Yunnan University, Chenggong
Tian Lan: Guizhou University
Xi-guang Zhang: Yunnan University, Chenggong
Martin R. Smith: Durham University

Nature, 2023, vol. 615, issue 7952, 468-471

Abstract: Abstract The animal phyla and their associated body plans originate from a singular burst of evolution occurring during the Cambrian period, over 500 million years ago1. The phylum Bryozoa, the colonial ‘moss animals’, have been the exception: convincing skeletons of this biomineralizing clade have been absent from Cambrian strata, in part because potential bryozoan fossils are difficult to distinguish from the modular skeletons of other animal and algal groups2,3. At present, the strongest candidate4 is the phosphatic microfossil Protomelission5. Here we describe exceptionally preserved non-mineralized anatomy in Protomelission-like macrofossils from the Xiaoshiba Lagerstätte6. Taken alongside the detailed skeletal construction and the potential taphonomic origin of ‘zooid apertures’, we consider that Protomelission is better interpreted as the earliest dasycladalean green alga—emphasizing the ecological role of benthic photosynthesizers in early Cambrian communities. Under this interpretation, Protomelission cannot inform the origins of the bryozoan body plan; despite a growing number of promising candidates7–9, there remain no unequivocal bryozoans of Cambrian age.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-05775-5

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