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Miaohephyton

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Species of alga
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Miaohephyton
Temporal range: Ediacaran PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Clade: Diaphoretickes
Clade: SAR
Clade: Stramenopiles
Phylum: Gyrista
Subphylum: Ochrophytina
Class: Phaeophyceae (?)
Genus: †Miaohephyton
Chen, 1991 emend. Steiner, 1994
Species: †M. bifurcatum
Binomial name
†Miaohephyton bifurcatum
Chen, 1991 emend. Steiner, 1994
Synonyms
  • Gracilogia Ding, 1992

Miaohephyton is a carbonaceous compression fossil of a thalloid organism that has been interpreted as a brown alga. Its Neoproterozoic age (600 to 550 million years ago) is incompatible with molecular clocks that estimate the divergence of the brown algae around 300 million years ago, leading to suggestions that its "brown algal" features are the result of convergence.

The organism grew both by apical growth (leading to bifurcation) and intercalary growth (increasing the distances between nodes). Some specimens are smooth, whereas others bear rounded structures that are interpreted as conceptacles.

References

  1. ^ Xiao, Shuhai; Knoll, Andrew H.; Yuan, Xunlai (1998). "Morphological reconstruction of Miaohephyton bifurcatum, a possible brown alga from the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo formation, South China". Journal of Paleontology. 72 (6): 1072–1086. Bibcode:1998JPal...72.1072X. doi:10.1017/s0022336000027414. JSTOR 1306737. S2CID 86134146.
  2. Brown, Joseph W.; Sorhannus, Ulf (2010). "A molecular genetic timescale for the diversification of autotrophic stramenopiles (Ochrophyta): substantive underestimation of putative fossil ages". PLOS ONE. 5 (9): e12759. Bibcode:2010PLoSO...512759B. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0012759. PMC 2940848. PMID 20862282.
Taxon identifiers
Miaohephyton


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