The origin of the Metazoa in the light of the Proterozoic fossil record

Paleontological Research

Volumn 7, Issue 1, 2003, Pages 9-41

  Fedonkin, Mikhail A ^a,b  

^a PALEONTOLOGICAL INSTITUTE   (Russian Federation)

^b MONASH UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

Author keywords

Biomineralization; Evolution; Metazoa; Proterozoic; Vendian; White Sea

Indexed keywords

BIOMINERALIZATION; EVOLUTION; FOSSIL RECORD; METAZOAN; MORPHOLOGY; ORIGIN OF LIFE; PROTEROZOIC; VENDIAN;

ANIMALIA; EUKARYOTA; GRYPANIA; HORODYSKIA; INVERTEBRATA; METAZOA; PARMIA; SINOSABELLIDITES;

EID: 0043206081     PISSN: 13428144     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2517/prpsj.7.9     Document Type: Article

References (132)

1. Arai, M.N., 1997: Coelenterates in pelagic food webs. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Coelenterate Biology, 1995, p. 1-9.
2. Arnaud, P.M., 1977: Adaptation within the Antarctic marine benthic ecosystem. In, Llano, G.A. ed., Adaptations within Antarctic ecosystems. Proceedings of the Third SCAR Symposium on Antarctic Biology, Washington, D.C., August 26-30, 1974, p. 135-157.
3. Awramik, S.M., 1971: Precambrian columnar stromatolite diversity: reflection of metazoan appearance. Science, vol. 174, p. 825-827.
4. Ayala, F. J., Rzhetsky, A. and Ayala, F.J., 1998: Origin of the metazoan phyla: Molecular clocks confirm paleontological estimates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 95, p. 606-611.
5. Bogorov, V.G., 1974: Plankton of the World Ocean, 320 p. Nauka, Moscow. (in Russian)
6. Brasier, M.D. and Lindsay, J.F., 1998: A billion years of environmental stability and the emergence of eukaryotes: New data from northern Australia. Geology, vol. 26, p. 555-559.
7. Brasier, M.D., Green, O.R., Jephcoat, A.P., Kleppe, A.K., Van Kranendonk, M.J., Lindsay, J.F., Steele, A. and Grassineau, N.V., 2002: Questioning the evidence for Earth's oldest fossils. Nature, vol. 416, p. 76-81.
8. Briant, C., 1991 (ed.): Metazoan Life without Oxygen, 291 p. Chapman and Hall, London.
9. Brocks, J.J, Logan, G.A., Buick, R. and Summons, R.E., 1999: Archean molecular fossils and the early rise of eukaryotes. Science, vol. 285, p. 1033-1036.
10. Broecker, W.S., 1971: A kinetic model for the chemical composition of sea water. Quaternary Research, vol. 1, p. 188-207.
11. Bromham, L., Rambaut, A., Fortey, R., Cooper, A. and Penny, D., 1998: Testing the Cambrian explosion hypothesis by using a molecular dating technique. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 95, p. 12386-12389.
12. Buick, R., 2001: Life in the Archean. In, Briggs, D.E.G. and Crowther, P.R. eds., Palaeobiology II, p. 13-21. Blackwell Scientific Publ. Ltd., London.
13. Buss, L.W., 1987: The Evolution of Individuality, 201 p. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.
14. Canfield, D.E., 1998: A new model for Proterozoic ocean chemistry. Nature, vol. 396, p. 450-453.
15. Canfield, D. E. and Teske, A., 1996: Late Proterozoic rise in atmospheric oxygen concentration inferred from phylogenetic and sulphur-isotope studies. Nature, vol. 382, p. 127-132.
16. Carmichael, W.W., 1994: The toxins of the cyanobacteria. Scientific American, no. 1, p. 78-86.
17. Chumakov, N.M., 2001: General trend in climatic change on Earth during past 3 billion years. Doklady Akademii Nauk, vol. 381, p. 1-4. (in Russian and English)
18. Collins, A.G., Lipps, J.H. and Valentine, J.W., 2000: Modern mucociliary creeping trails and the body plans of Neoproterozoic trace-makers. Paleobiology, vol. 26, p. 47-55.
19. Conway Morris, S., 1997: Molecular clocks: defusing the Cambrian "explosion"? Current Biology, vol. 7, p. 71-74.
20. Copper, A. and Fortey, R., 1998: Evolutionary explosions and the phylogenetic fuse. TREE, vol. 13, p. 151-156.
21. Crimes, T.P. and Fedonkin, M.A., 1994: Evolution and dispersal of deepsea traces. Palaios, vol. 9, p. 74-83.
22. Dankers, N., 1993: Integrated estuarine management-obtaining a sustainable yield of bivalve resources while maintaining environmental quality. In, Dame R.F. ed., NATO ASI Series, vol. G33, p. 479-511. Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg.
23. Dewel, R. A., 2000: Colonial origin for Eumetazoa: major morphological transitions and the origin of bilaterian complexity. Journal of Morphology, vol. 243, p. 35-74.
24. Dzik, J. and Ivantsov, A.Yu., 1999: An asymmetric segmented organism from the Vendian of Russia and the status of the Dipleurozoa. Historical Biology, vol. 13, p. 255-268.
25. Farmer, J.D. 1992: Grazing and bioturbation in modern microbial mats. In, Schopf, J.W. and Klein, C. eds., The Proterozoic Biosphere. A Multidisciplinary Study, p. 295-297. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
26. Fedonkin, M.A., 1985a: Precambrian metazoans: the problems of preservation, systematics and evolution. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London, vol. B311, p. 27-45.
27. Fedonkin, M.A., 1985b: Non-skeletal fauna of the Vendian: promorphological analysis. In, Sokolov, B.S. and Iwanowski, A.B. eds., The Vendian System, vol. 1, Paleontology, p. 10-69. Nauka, Moscow (In Russian)
28. Fedonkin, M.A., 1987: Non-skeletal Fauna of the Vendian and Its Place in the Evolution of Metazoans, 175 p. Transactions of the Paleontological Institute, vol. 226. Nauka, Moscow (in Russian)
29. Fedonkin, M.A., 1990: Paleoichnology of Vendian Metazoa. In, Sokolov, B.S. and Iwanowski, A.B. eds., The Vendian System. Vol. 1. Paleontology, p. 132-137, Springer-Verlag, Berlin. (Translation from original paper of 1985 with some modification).
30. Fedonkin, M.A., 1992: Vendian faunas and the early evolution of Metazoa. In, Lipps, J.H. and Signor, P.W. eds., Origin and Early Evolution of the Metazoa, p. 87-129, Plenum Press, New York.
31. Fedonkin, M.A., 1996a: Geobiological trends and events in the Precambrian biosphere. In, Walliser O.H. ed. Global Events and Event Stratigraphy in the Phanerozoic: Results of the International Interdisciplinary Cooperation in the IGCP- Project 216 "Global Biological Events in Earth History", p. 89-112. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg.
32. Fedonkin, M.A., 1996b: The oldest fossil animals in ecological perspective. In, Ghiselin, M.T. and Pinna, G. eds., New Perspectives on the History of Life. Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences, no. 20, p. 31-45.
33. Fedonkin, M.A., 1996c: Cold-water cradle of animal life. Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal (English version), vol. 30, p. 669-673.
34. Fedonkin, M.A., 1996d: Ausia as an ancestor of archeocyathans, and other sponge-like organisms. In, Enigmatic Organisms in Phylogeny and Evolution. Abstracts. Moscow, Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, p. 90-91. (in Russian)
35. Fedonkin, M.A., 1998: Metameric features in the Vendian metazoans. Italian Journal of Zoology, vol. 65, p. 11-17.
36. Fedonkin, M.A., 2001: Glimpse into 600 million years deep. Science in Russia, no. 6, p. 4-15.
37. Fedonkin, M.A., 2002: Andiva ivantsovi gen. et sp. nov. and related carapace-bearing Ediacaran fossils from the Vendian of the Winter Coast, White Sea, Russia. Italian Journal of Zoology, vol. 69, p. 175-181.
38. Fedonkin, M.A., in press: Suzhenie geohimicheskogo bazisa zhizni kak faktor evkariotizatsii biosfery (Decrease in the geochemical basis of life as a factor of eukaryotizations of biosphere). Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal, 2003, no. 5. (in Russian and English)
39. Fedonkin, M.A. and Ivantsov, A.Yu., 2001: Faunal succession in the Vendian (Terminal Proterozoic) deposits of the White Sea Region, north of the Russian Platform. North American Paleontological Convention, Berkeley, California, Program and Abstracts, p. 50.
40. Fedonkin, M.A. and Waggoner, B.M., 1997: The Late Precambrian fossil Kimberella is a mollusc-like bilaterian organism. Nature, vol. 388, p. 868-871.
41. Fedonkin, M.A. and Yochelson, E.L., 2002: Middle Proterozoic (1.5 Ga) Horodyskia moniliformis Yochelson and Fedonkin, the oldest known tissue grade colonial Eukaryote. Smithsonian Contribution to Paleobiology, no. 94, 29 p.
42. Garrett, P., 1970: Phanerozoic stromatolites: non competitive ecologic restriction by grazing and burrowing animals. Science, vol. 169, p. 171-173.
43. Gehling, J.G., 1991: The case for Ediacaran fossil roots to the Metazoan tree. In, Radhakrishna B.P. Bangalore ed., The world of Martin F. Glaessner. Geological Society of India Memoir no. 20, p. 181-224.
44. Gehling, J.G., and Rigby, J.K., 1996: Long expected sponges from the Neoproterozoic Ediacara fauna of South Australia. Journal of Paleontology, vol. 70, No. 2, p. 185-195.
45. Gehling, J.G., Runnegar, B. and Seilacher, A., 1996: Rasping markings of large, metazoan grazers, terminal Neoproterozoic of Australia and Cambrian (?) of Saudi Arabia. SEPM Meeting, Abstracts, p. 100.
46. Glaessner, M.F., 1971: The genus Conomedusites Glaessner and Wade and the diversification of the Cnidaria. Paläontologische Zeitschrift, vol. 43, p. 7-17.
47. Glaessner, M.F., 1984: The Dawn of Animal Life. A Biohistorical Study, 244 p. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
48. Glaessner, M.F. and Wade, M., 1966: The Late Precambrian fossils from Ediacara, South Australia. Paleontology, vol., 9, p. 599-628.
49. Gnilovskaya, M.B., 1996: New saarinids from the Vendian of Russian Platform. Doklady Akademii Nauk, vol. 348, p. 89-93. (in Russian and English)
50. Gnilovskaya, M.B., 1998: The oldest annelidomorphs from the Upper Riphean of Timan. Doklady Akademii Nauk, vol. 359, p. 369-372. (In Russian and English)
51. Gnilovskaya, M.B., Becker, Yu.R., Weiss, A.F., Olovyanishnikov Vs. G. and Raaben, M.E., 2000: Pre-Ediacaran fauna of Timan (Upper Riphean annelidomorphs). Stratigraphy. Geological Correlation, vol. 8, no. 4, p. 11-39.
52. Grant, S.W.F., 1990: Shell structure and distribution of Cloudina, a potential index fossil for the Terminal Proterozoic. American Journal of Science, vol. 290-A, p. 261-294.
53. Grazhdankin, D.V. and Ivantsov, A. Yu., 1996: Reconstruction of biotopes of ancient Metazoa of the Late Vendian White Sea Biota. Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal (English version), vol. 30, p. 676-680.
54. Grey, K. and Williams, I.R., 1990: Problematic bedding-plane markings from the Middle Proterozoic Manganese Subgroup, Bangemall Basin, Western Australia. Precambrian Research, vol. 46, p. 307-327.
55. Grotzinger, J.P., and Rothman, D.H., 1996: An abiotic model for stromatolite morphogenesis. Nature, vol. 383, p. 423-425.
56. Grotzinger, J.P., Watters W.A. and Knoll A.H., 2000: Calcified metazoans in trombolite-stromatolite reefs of the terminal Proterozoic Nama Group, Namibia. Paleobiology, vol. 26, p. 334-359.
57. Han, T.M. and Runnegar, B., 1992: Megascopic eukaryotic algae from the 2.1-billion-year-old Negaunee Iron-Formation, Michigan. Science, vol. 257, p. 32-235.
58. Heckman, D.C., Geiser, D.M., Eidell, B.R., Stauffer, R.L., Kardos, N.L. and Hedges, S.B., 2001: Molecular evidence of early colonization of land by fungi and plants. Science, vol. 293, p. 1129-1133.
59. Hoffman, P.F., Kaufman, A. J., Halverson, G.P. and Schrag, D.P., 1998: A Neoproterozoic Snowball Earth. Science, vol. 281, p. 1342-1346.
60. Hofmann, H.J., 1994: Proterozoic carbonaceous compressions ("metaphytes" and "worms"). In, Bengtson, S. ed., Early Life on Earth, p. 342-357. Nobel Symposium No. 84. Columbia University Press, New York.
61. Holland, H.D., 1994: Early Proterozoic atmospheric change. In, Bengtson, S. ed., Early Life on Earth, p. 237-244. Nobel Symposium No. 84. Columbia University Press, New York.
62. Hoppe, H.-G., Gocke, K., Koppe, R. and Begler, C., 2002: Bacterial growth and primary production along north-south transect of the Atlantic Ocean. Nature, vol. 416, p. 168-171.
63. Horodyski, R.J., 1982: Problematic bedding-plane markings from the Middle Proterozoic Appekunni Argillite, Belt Supergroup, north-western Montana. Journal of Paleontology, vol. 56, p. 882-889.
64. Hyde, W.T., Crowley, T.J., Baum, S.K., and Peltier, W.R., 2000: Neoproterozoic 'snowball Earth' simulations with a coupled climate/ice-sheet model. Nature, vol. 405, p. 425-429.
65. Ivantsov, A.Yu., 1990: New data on the ultrastructure of Sabelliditids (Pogonophora?). Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal, no 4, pp. 125-128. (in Russian and English)
66. Ivantsov, A.Yu., 1999: A new dickinsoniid from the Upper Vendian of the White Sea Winter Coast (Russia, Arkhangelsk Region). Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal, vol. 31, p. 292-295. (in Russian and English)
67. Ivantsov, A.Yu. and Fedonkin, M.A., 2002: Conulariid-like fossil from the Vendian of Russia: a metazoan clade across the Proterozoic/Palaeozoic boundary. Palaeontology, vol. 45, part. 6, p. 1219-1229.
68. Ivantsov, A.Yu. and Fedonkin, M.A., 2001: Locomotion trails of the Vendian invertebrates preserved with the producer's body fossils, White Sea, Russia. North American Paleontological Convention, Berkeley, California, Program and Abstracts, p. 72.
69. Ivantsov, A.Yu. and Fedonkin, M.A., 2001: Traces of active locomotion-final evidence of the animal nature of the Ediacara organisms. In, Podobina, V.M. ed., Evolution of Life on Earth, p. 133-137. Proceedings of the Second International Symposium "Evolution of Life on Earth", November 12-15, 2001. NTL, Tomsk. (in Russian)
70. Ivantsov, A.Yu. and Malakhovskaya, J.E., 2002: Giant trails of the Vendian animals. Doklady Akademii Nauk, vol. 385, no. 3, p. 382-386. (in Russian)
71. Jankauskas, T.V., 1989: Precambrian Microfossils from the USSR. Nauka, Leningrad, p. 5-33. (in Russian)
72. Jarms, G., 1991: Taxonomic characters from the polyp tubes of coronate medusae (Scyphozoa, Coronata). Hydrobiologia, vol. 216/217, p. 463-470.
73. Javaux, E., Knoll, A.H. and Walter, M.R., 2001: Ecological and morphological complexity in early eukaryotic ecosystems. Nature, vol. 412, p. 66-69.
74. Jenkins, R.J.F., 1984: Interpreting the oldest fossil Cnidaria. Palaeontographica Americana, vol. 54, p. 95-10.
75. Jenkins, R.J.F., 1992: Functional and ecological aspects of Ediacaran assemblages. In, Lipps, J.H. and Signor, P.W. eds., Origin and Early Evolution of the Metazoa, p. 131-176. Plenum Press, New York.
76. Karam, P.A. and Leslie, S.A., 2001: What winds a molecular clock? An examination of some confounding factors. North American Paleontological Convention, Berkeley, California, Program and Abstracts, p. 77.
77. Kaufman, A.J., Knoll, A.H. and Narbonne, G.M., 1997: Isotopes, ice ages, and terminal Proterozoic earth history. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 94, p. 6600-6605.
78. Kennedy, M.J., Runnegar, B., Prave, A.R., Hoffmann, K.-H. and Arthur, M.A., 1998: Two or four Neoproterozoic glaciations? Geology, vol. 26, p. 1059-1063.
79. Kidwell, S.M. and Baumiller, T. 1990: Experimental disintegration of regular echinoids: role of temperature, oxygen, and decay thresholds. Paleobiology, vol. 16, p. 247-271.
80. Knoll, A.H., 1992: The Early evolution of eukaryotes: a geological prospective. Science, vol. 256, p. 622-627.
81. Knoll, A.H., 1994: Proterozoic and early Cambrian protists: evidence for accelerating evolutionary tempo. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 91, p. 6743-6750.
82. Knoll, A.H., 1996: Breathing room for early animals. Nature, vol. 382, p. 111-112.
83. Lasaga, A.C. and Ohmoto, H., 2002: The oxygen geochemical cycle: dynamics and stability. Geochimica and Cosmochimica Acta, vol. 66, p. 361-381.
84. Lee, M.S.Y., 1999: Molecular clock calibrations and metazoan divergence dates. Journal of Molecular Evolution, vol. 49, p. 385-391.
85. Lipps, J.H. and Hickman, C.S., 1982: Origin, age, and evolution of Antarctic and deep-sea faunas. In, Ernst W.G. and Morin J.G. eds., The Environments of the Deep Sea, p. 325-356. Papers from a colloquium, Los Angeles, April-June 1979. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Rubey Volume 2.
86. Lipps, J.H., Gershwin, L.-A. and Fedonkin, M.A., 2000: Ediacara was no garden. GSA Meeting, Abstracts with Program, No. 50913.
87. Logan, G.A., Hayes, J.M., Hieshima, G.B. and Summons, R.E., 1995: Terminal Proterozoic reorganization of biogeochemical cycles. Nature, vol. 376, p. 53-56.
88. Lowe, D.R., 1994: Early environments: constraints and opportunities for early evolution. In, Bengtson, S. ed., Early Life on Earth, p. 25-35. Nobel Symposium No. 84. Columbia University Press, New York.
89. Madin, L.P., 1988: Feeding behavior of tentaculate predators: in situ observations and a conceptual model. Bulletin of Marine Science, vol. 43, p. 413-429.
90. Magnum, C. 1991. Precambrian oxygen levels, the sulfide biosystem, and the origin of the Metazoa. Journal of Experimental Zoology, vol. 260, p. 33-42.
91. Malakhov, V.V., 1982: New look at the origin of chordates. Priroda, vol. 56, p. 12-19. (in Russian)
92. Martin, M.W., Grazhdankin, D.V., Bowring, S.A., Evans, D.A.D., Fedonkin, M.A. and Kirschivink, J.L., 2000: Age of Neoproterozoic bilaterian body and trace fossils, White Sea, Russia: Implications for metazoan evolution. Science, vol. 288, p. 841-845.
93. McMenamin, M.A.S. 1986: The Garden of Ediacara. Palaios, vol. 1, p. 178-182.
94. Mojzsis, S.J., Arrhenius, G., McKeegan, K.D., Harrison, T.M., Nutman, A.P. and Friend, C.R.L., 1996: Evidence for life on Earth before 3,800 million years ago. Nature, vol. 384, p. 55-59.
95. Novitsky, J.A. and Morita, R.Y., 1978: Possible strategy for the survival of marine bacteria under starvation conditions. Marine Biology, vol. 48, p. 289.
96. Ohmoto, H., 1997: When did the Earth's atmosphere become oxic? Geochemical News, vol. 93, p. 26-27.
97. Poinar, H.N., and Paabo, S., 2001: DNA. In, Briggs D.E.G. and Crowther P.R., eds., Palaeobiology II, p. 241-245. Blackwell Scientific Pub. Ltd.
98. Porter, S.M. and Knoll, A.H., 2000: Testate amoebae in the Neoproterozoic Era: evidence from vase-shaped microfossils in the Chuar, Grand Canyon. Paleobiology, vol. 26, p. 360-385.
99. Pörtner, H.O. 2001: Climate change and temperature-dependent biogeography: oxygen limitation of thermal tolerance in animals. Naturwissenschaften, vol. 88, p 137-146.
100. Purcell, J.E., 1991: A review of cnidarians and ctenophores feeding on competitors in the plankton. Hydrobiologia, vol. 216/217, p. 335-342.
101. Rasmussen, B., Bengtson, S., Fletcher, I.R. and McNaughton N.J., 2002: Discoidal impressions and trace-like fossils more than 1200 million years old. Science, vol. 296, p. 1112-1115.
102. Retalack, G.J., 1994: Were the Ediacaran fossils lichens? Paleobiology, vol. 20, p. 523-544.
103. 2. Nature, vol. 407, p. 364-367.
104. Schopf, J.W. and Klein, C. eds., 1992: The Proterozoic Biosphere. A Multidisciplinary Approach, 1348 p. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
105. Schopf, J.W., 1992: Paleobiology of Archean. In, Schopf, J.W. and Klein, C. eds., The Proterozoic Biosphere. A Multidisciplinary Approach, p. 25-39. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
106. Schubert, J.K. and Bottjer, D.J., 1992: Early Triassic stromatolites as post-mass extinction disaster forms. Geology, vol. 20, p. 883-886.
107. Seilacher, A., 1989: Vendozoa: organismic constructions in the Proterozoic Biosphere. Lethaia, vol. 22, p. 229-239.
108. Seilacher, A., 1999: Biomat-related life styles in the Precambrian. Palaios, vol. 14, p. 86-93.
109. Semikhatov, M.A. and Raaben, M.E., 1994: Dynamics of the global stromatolite diversity in the Proterozoic. Part 1. North Eurasia, China and India. Stratigraphy. Geological Correlation, vol. 2, p. 10-32. (in Russian and English)
110. Semikhatov, M.A. and Raaben, M.E., 1996: Dynamics of the global stromatolite diversity in the Proterozoic. Part 2. Africa, Australia, North America, and general synthesis. Stratigraphy. Geological Correlation, vol. 4, p. 26-54. (in Russian and English)
111. Sokolov, B.S., 1990: Vendian Polychaeta. In, Sokolov, B.S. and Iwanowski, A.B. eds., The Vendian System. Vol. 1, Paleontology, p. 244-246. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
112. Sokolov, B.S., 1997: Ocherki Stanovleniya Venda (Essayes on the Advent of the Vendian System), 156 p. KMK Scientific Press Ltd. Moscow. (in Russian with English abstract)
113. Sokolov, B.S. and Fedonkin, M.A., 1984: The Vendian as the terminal System of the Precambrian. Episodes, vol. 7, p. 12-19.
114. Sun W., Wang G.-X. and Zhou B., 1986: Macroscopic worm-like body fossils from the Upper Precambrian (900-700 Ma). Huainan district, Anhui, China and their stratigraphic and evolutionary significance. Precambrian Research, vol. 31, p. 377-403.
115. Tabin, C.J. and Johnson, R.L., 2001: Clocks and Hox. Nature, vol. 412, p. 780-781.
116. Touma, J. and Wisdom, J., 1994: Evolution of the Earth-Moon system. Astronomical Journal, vol. 108, p. 1943-1961.
117. Valentine, J. W., 2001: How were vendobiont bodies patterned? Paleobiology, vol. 27, p. 425-428.
118. Vermeij, G.J. and Lindberg, D.R., 2000: Delayed herbivory and the assembly of marine benthic ecosystems. Paleobiology, vol. 26, p. 419-430.
119. Vinberg, G.G., 1967: Peculiarities of aquatic ecological systems. Zhurnal Obshchey Biologii, vol. 28, p. 538-545. (in Russian)
120. Vologdin, A.G., 1962: Oldest Algae of the USSR, 656 p. Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow. (in Russian)
121. Wade, M., 1971: Bilateral Precambrian chondrophores from the Ediacara fauna, South Australia. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, vol. 84, p. 183-188.
122. Walter, M.R., 1994: Stromatolites: the main source of information on the evolution of the early benthos. In, Bengtson, S. ed., Early Life on Earth, p. 270-286. Nobel Symposium no. 84. Columbia University Press, New York.
123. Walter, M.R. and Heys, G.R., 1985: Links between the rise of the Metazoa and the decline of the stromatolites. Precambrian Research, vol. 29, p. 149-174.
124. Wang, G.-X., 1982: Late Precambrian Annelida and Pogonophora form the Huanian of Anhui Province. Bulletin of the Tianjin Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, vol. 6, p. 9-22. (in Chinese)
125. Woese, C.R., Kandler, O. and Wheelis, M.L., 1990: Towards a natural system of organisms: proposal for the domains Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 87, p. 4576-4579.
126. Wood, V. et al., 2002: The genome sequence of Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Nature, vol. 415, p. 871-880.
127. Wray G.A., Levinton, J.S. and Shapiro L.H., 1996: Precambrian divergences among metazoan phyla. Science, vol. 274, p. 568-573.
128. Yochelson, E.L., Sturmer, W. and Stanley G.D., 1983: Plectodiscus discoideus (Rauff): a redescription of a chondrophorine from the Early Devonian Hunsruck Slate, West Germany. Paläontologische Zeitschrift, vol. 57, p. 39-69.
129. Yochelson, E.L. and Fedonkin, M.A., 1993: Paleobiology of Climactichnites, an enigmatic Late Cambrian fossil. Smithsonian Contribution to Paleobiology, no. 74, p. 1-74.
130. Yochelson, E. L. and Fedonkin, M. A., 2000: A new tissue-grade organism 1.5 billion years old from Montana. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, vol. 113, p. 843-847.
131. Zavarzin, G.A., 2002: Rol' kombinatornykh sobytii v razvitii bioraznoobraziya (Role of the combinatory events in the biodiversity development). Priroda, no. 1, p. 12-19. (In Russian)
132. Zhuravlev, A. Yu., 1993: Were Ediacaran Vendobionta multicellulars? Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie Abhandlungen, vol. 190, p. 299-314.