Are the new Ediacaran Doushantuo Megasphaera-like Acritarchs Really Animals? Or Something Else?

Are the new Ediacaran Doushantuo Megasphaera-like acritarchs early metazoans?

Author:

Tang

Abstract:

A recent report by Chen et al. (Chen, L., Xiao, S., Pang, K., Zhou, C.M., Yuan, X.L., 2014. Cell differentiation and germ-soma separation in Ediacaran animal embryo-like fossils. Nature 516, 238-241) describes the new Ediacaran Doushantuo acritarchs with fascinating features. Nested within Megaclonophycus-like fossils that exhibit palintomic cell division are multicellular spheroid structures termed matryoshkas, which are interpreted to be germ cells. Such distinctive features of cellular differentiation and germ-soma separation suggest affinities of these with early stem group metazoans. In this commentary, I suggest some alternative interpretations to those elaborated by Chen et al. (2014).