Anoxia

@article{waters1941anoxia,
    author = "WATERS, RALPH M.",
    title = "Anoxia",
    year = "1941",
    journal = "Anesthesiology",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1097/00000542-194103000-00018",
    doi = "10.1097/00000542-194103000-00018",
    number = "2",
    pages = "214-215",
    volume = "2"
}

@article{doi101130001676061968791315tailif20co2,
    author = "Lawrence, David R.",
    title = "Taphonomy and Information Losses in Fossil Communities",
    year = "1968",
    journal = "Geological Society of America Bulletin",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1968)79[1315:tailif]2.0.co;2",
    doi = "10.1130/0016-7606(1968)79[1315:tailif]2.0.co;2",
    openalex = "W2134383609"
}

Data on numbers of marine families within 91 metazoan classes known from the Phanerozoic fossil record are analyzed. The distribution of the 2800 fossil families among the classes is very uneven, with most belonging to a small minority of classes. Similarly, the stratigraphic distribution of the classes is very uneven, with most first appearing early in the Paleozoic and with many of the smaller classes becoming extinct before the end of that era. However, despite this unevenness, a Q -mode factor analysis indicates that the structure of these data is rather simple. Only three factors are needed to account for more than 90% of the data. These factors are interpreted as reflecting the three great “evolutionary faunas” of the Phanerozoic marine record: a trilobite-dominated Cambrian fauna, a brachiopod-dominated later Paleozoic fauna, and a mollusc-dominated Mesozoic-Cenozoic, or “modern,” fauna. Lesser factors relate to slow taxonomic turnover within the major faunas through time and to unique aspects of particular taxa and times. Each of the three major faunas seems to have its own characteristic diversity so that its expansion or contraction appears as being intimately associated with a particular phase in the history of total marine diversity. The Cambrian fauna expands rapidly during the Early Cambrian radiations and maintains dominance during the Middle to Late Cambrian “equilibrium.” The Paleozoic fauna then ascends to dominance during the Ordovician radiations, which increase diversity dramatically; this new fauna then maintains dominance throughout the long interval of apparent equilibrium that lasts until the end of the Paleozoic Era. The modern fauna, which slowly increases in importance during the Paleozoic Era, quickly rises to dominance with the Late Permian extinctions and maintains that status during the general rise in diversity to the apparent maximum in the Neogene. The increase in diversity associated with the expansion of each new fauna appears to coincide with an approximately exponential decline of the previously dominant fauna, suggesting possible displacement of each evolutionary fauna by its successor.

@article{doi101017s0094837300003778,
    author = "Sepkoski, J. John",
    title = "A factor analytic description of the Phanerozoic marine fossil record",
    year = "1981",
    journal = "Paleobiology",
    abstract = "Data on numbers of marine families within 91 metazoan classes known from the Phanerozoic fossil record are analyzed. The distribution of the 2800 fossil families among the classes is very uneven, with most belonging to a small minority of classes. Similarly, the stratigraphic distribution of the classes is very uneven, with most first appearing early in the Paleozoic and with many of the smaller classes becoming extinct before the end of that era. However, despite this unevenness, a Q -mode factor analysis indicates that the structure of these data is rather simple. Only three factors are needed to account for more than 90\% of the data. These factors are interpreted as reflecting the three great “evolutionary faunas” of the Phanerozoic marine record: a trilobite-dominated Cambrian fauna, a brachiopod-dominated later Paleozoic fauna, and a mollusc-dominated Mesozoic-Cenozoic, or “modern,” fauna. Lesser factors relate to slow taxonomic turnover within the major faunas through time and to unique aspects of particular taxa and times. Each of the three major faunas seems to have its own characteristic diversity so that its expansion or contraction appears as being intimately associated with a particular phase in the history of total marine diversity. The Cambrian fauna expands rapidly during the Early Cambrian radiations and maintains dominance during the Middle to Late Cambrian “equilibrium.” The Paleozoic fauna then ascends to dominance during the Ordovician radiations, which increase diversity dramatically; this new fauna then maintains dominance throughout the long interval of apparent equilibrium that lasts until the end of the Paleozoic Era. The modern fauna, which slowly increases in importance during the Paleozoic Era, quickly rises to dominance with the Late Permian extinctions and maintains that status during the general rise in diversity to the apparent maximum in the Neogene. The increase in diversity associated with the expansion of each new fauna appears to coincide with an approximately exponential decline of the previously dominant fauna, suggesting possible displacement of each evolutionary fauna by its successor.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1017/s0094837300003778",
    doi = "10.1017/s0094837300003778",
    openalex = "W2505144080",
    references = "doi10100797814613088367, doi1010160012825272900724, doi101017s0094837300004917, doi101017s009483730000508x, doi101017s0094837300005236, doi101017s0094837300005352, doi101017s0094837300005649, doi101017s0094837300005972, doi101017s0094837300012549, doi101126science17740541065, doi101126science2064415217, doi101130spe89p63, doi1023071483846, doi1023071796560, doi1023072405671, doi1023072412725, doi1023072412728, doi1023072806339, doi107312simp93764, openalexw1504049102, openalexw645218623"
}

A new compilation of fossil data on invertebrate and vertebrate families indicates that four mass extinctions in the marine realm are statistically distinct from background extinction levels. These four occurred late in the Ordovician, Permian, Triassic, and Cretaceous periods. A fifth extinction event in the Devonian stands out from the background but is not statistically significant in these data. Background extinction rates appear to have declined since Cambrian time, which is consistent with the prediction that optimization of fitness should increase through evolutionary time.

@article{doi101126science21545391501,
    author = "Raup, David M. and Sepkoski, J. John",
    title = "Mass Extinctions in the Marine Fossil Record",
    year = "1982",
    journal = "Science",
    abstract = "A new compilation of fossil data on invertebrate and vertebrate families indicates that four mass extinctions in the marine realm are statistically distinct from background extinction levels. These four occurred late in the Ordovician, Permian, Triassic, and Cretaceous periods. A fifth extinction event in the Devonian stands out from the background but is not statistically significant in these data. Background extinction rates appear to have declined since Cambrian time, which is consistent with the prediction that optimization of fitness should increase through evolutionary time.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.215.4539.1501",
    doi = "10.1126/science.215.4539.1501",
    openalex = "W1976721572",
    references = "doi101017s009483730000511x, doi101017s0094837300006539, doi101130spe89p63, doi105281zenodo16226412, openalexw2335729143, openalexw2591197405, openalexw2596207362"
}

@article{doi1010160278416583900089,
    author = "Shipman, Pat and Rose, Jennie J.",
    title = "Early hominid hunting, butchering, and carcass-processing behaviors: Approaches to the fossil record",
    year = "1983",
    journal = "Journal of Anthropological Archaeology",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/0278-4165(83)90008-9",
    doi = "10.1016/0278-4165(83)90008-9",
    openalex = "W2002557964",
    references = "doi101016b9780120031047500132, doi101017s0094837300005820, doi101038scientificamerican096062, doi102113gsrocky8specialpaper11, doi1023072798801, doi105962bhlpart22969, openalexw1974359478"
}

Soft-bodied and lightly sclerotized Burgess shale fossils have been found at more than a dozen new localities in an area extending for 20 kilometers along the front of the Cathedral Escarpment in the Middle Cambrian Stephen Formation of the Canadian Rockies. Five different fossil assemblages from four stratigraphic levels have been recognized. These assemblages represent distinct penecontemporaneous marine communities that together make up a normal fore-reef faunal complex.

@article{doi101126science2224620163,
    author = "Collins, Desmond and Briggs, Derek E. G. and Morris, Simon Conway",
    title = "New Burgess Shale Fossil Sites Reveal Middle Cambrian Faunal Complex",
    year = "1983",
    journal = "Science",
    abstract = "Soft-bodied and lightly sclerotized Burgess shale fossils have been found at more than a dozen new localities in an area extending for 20 kilometers along the front of the Cathedral Escarpment in the Middle Cambrian Stephen Formation of the Canadian Rockies. Five different fossil assemblages from four stratigraphic levels have been recognized. These assemblages represent distinct penecontemporaneous marine communities that together make up a normal fore-reef faunal complex.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.222.4620.163",
    doi = "10.1126/science.222.4620.163",
    openalex = "W1994380053",
    references = "doi101017s0094837300006539, doi101038scientificamerican0779122, doi101098rstb19810033, doi101130gsab51731, doi105281zenodo15932730, doi105281zenodo16490103, openalexw2600671946, openalexw2608196808, openalexw614215761"
}

@article{doi1010160278416584900047,
    author = "Lyman, R. Lee",
    title = "Bone density and differential survivorship of fossil classes",
    year = "1984",
    journal = "Journal of Anthropological Archaeology",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/0278-4165(84)90004-7",
    doi = "10.1016/0278-4165(84)90004-7",
    openalex = "W1996561641",
    references = "doi101016030544038590072x, doi102113gsrocky8specialpaper11, doi102307281081, doi105962bhlpart22969, openalexw2167869521"
}

The trace fossil Chondrites, a highly branched burrow system of unknown endobenthic deposit feeders, occurs in all types of sediment, including those deposited under anaerobic conditions. In some cases, such as the Jurassic Posidonienschiefer Formation of Germany, Chondrites occurs in black, laminated, carbonaceous sediment that was deposited in chemically reducing conditions. In other cases, such as numerous oxic clastic and carbonate units throughout the geologic column, Chondrites typically represents the last trace fossil in a biotutbation sequence. This indicates that the burrow system was produced deep within the sediment in the anaerobic zone below the surficial oxidized zone that was characterized by freely circulating and oxidizing pore waters.

@article{doi101126science2244651872,
    author = "Bromley, Richard G. and Ekdale, A. A.",
    title = "Chondrites: A Trace Fossil Indicator of Anoxia in Sediments",
    year = "1984",
    journal = "Science",
    abstract = "The trace fossil Chondrites, a highly branched burrow system of unknown endobenthic deposit feeders, occurs in all types of sediment, including those deposited under anaerobic conditions. In some cases, such as the Jurassic Posidonienschiefer Formation of Germany, Chondrites occurs in black, laminated, carbonaceous sediment that was deposited in chemically reducing conditions. In other cases, such as numerous oxic clastic and carbonate units throughout the geologic column, Chondrites typically represents the last trace fossil in a biotutbation sequence. This indicates that the burrow system was produced deep within the sediment in the anaerobic zone below the surficial oxidized zone that was characterized by freely circulating and oxidizing pore waters.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.224.4651.872",
    doi = "10.1126/science.224.4651.872",
    openalex = "W2165117122",
    references = "doi1010079783642659232, doi1010160025322767900515"
}

Abstract Preservation of non-mineralized structures (including plants) and of articulated skeletons results from extraordinary hydrographic, sedimentational and early diagenetic conditions. The corresponding chief causative effects (stagnation, obrution and bacterial sealing) define a conceptual continuum into which individual occurrences may be mapped. A more pragmatic, typological classification of conservation deposits, using a standard questionnaire, reveals ecological replacements, as well as trends related to the evolution of the biosphere, through geological time.

@article{doi101098rstb19850134,
    author = "Seilacher, Adolf and Reif, Wolf‐Ernst and Westphal, Florian",
    title = "Sedimentological, ecological and temporal patterns of fossil Lagerstätten",
    year = "1985",
    journal = "Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences",
    abstract = "Abstract Preservation of non-mineralized structures (including plants) and of articulated skeletons results from extraordinary hydrographic, sedimentational and early diagenetic conditions. The corresponding chief causative effects (stagnation, obrution and bacterial sealing) define a conceptual continuum into which individual occurrences may be mapped. A more pragmatic, typological classification of conservation deposits, using a standard questionnaire, reveals ecological replacements, as well as trends related to the evolution of the biosphere, through geological time.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1985.0134",
    doi = "10.1098/rstb.1985.0134",
    openalex = "W2111944730",
    references = "doi101007978364269317510, doi1010079783642758294, doi101007bfb0009832, doi101111j136530911982tb00072x, doi101111j150239311985tb00688x, doi101126science2224620163, doi101126science2244651872, doi101127njgpa1591980324, doi101306ad4616f116f711d78645000102c1865d"
}

Densely fossiliferous deposits are receiving increasing attention for their yield of paleobiologic data and their usefulness in sedimentology and stratigraphy. This trend has created a pressing need for standardized descriptive terminology and a genetic classification based on a coherent conceptual framework. The descriptive procedure outlined here for skeletal concentrations stresses four features -taxonomic composition, bioclastic fabric, geometry, and internal structure-that can be described readily in the field by nonspecialists. The genetic classification scheme is based on three end members, representing biologic, sedimentologic, and diagenetic factors in skeletal concentration. Concentrations created through the simultaneous or sequential action of two or more factors are classified as mixed types. As a conceptual framework for comparative biostratinomic analysis, the broad categories of this ternary classification scheme should facilitate recognition of large-scale temporal and spatial patterns in skeletal accumulation. The usefulness of this approach is suggested by the good agreement between biostratinomic patterns observed in ancient onshore-offshore facies tracts and those predicted across paleobathymetric transects based on modern processes of skeletal concentration.

@article{doi1023073514687,
    author = "Kidwell, Susan M. and Fürsich, Franz T. and Aigner, Thomas",
    title = "Conceptual Framework for the Analysis and Classification of Fossil Concentrations",
    year = "1986",
    journal = "Palaios",
    abstract = "Densely fossiliferous deposits are receiving increasing attention for their yield of paleobiologic data and their usefulness in sedimentology and stratigraphy. This trend has created a pressing need for standardized descriptive terminology and a genetic classification based on a coherent conceptual framework. The descriptive procedure outlined here for skeletal concentrations stresses four features -taxonomic composition, bioclastic fabric, geometry, and internal structure-that can be described readily in the field by nonspecialists. The genetic classification scheme is based on three end members, representing biologic, sedimentologic, and diagenetic factors in skeletal concentration. Concentrations created through the simultaneous or sequential action of two or more factors are classified as mixed types. As a conceptual framework for comparative biostratinomic analysis, the broad categories of this ternary classification scheme should facilitate recognition of large-scale temporal and spatial patterns in skeletal accumulation. The usefulness of this approach is suggested by the good agreement between biostratinomic patterns observed in ancient onshore-offshore facies tracts and those predicted across paleobathymetric transects based on modern processes of skeletal concentration.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.2307/3514687",
    doi = "10.2307/3514687",
    openalex = "W2021838482",
    references = "doi1010079783662010204, doi10108011035898709454746, doi101086628652, doi101098rstb19850134, doi101111j150239311970tb00830x, doi101130001676061964751197fciptr20co2, doi101130001676061968791315tailif20co2, doi101306212f77662b2411d78648000102c1865d, doi1023072258940, openalexw1533729466"
}

@article{colhoun1987pleistocene,
    author = "Colhoun, EA and Van de Geer, G",
    title = "Pleistocene macro-and micro-plant fossils fromRosebery, western Tasmania",
    year = "1987",
    journal = "Papers and Proceedings of The Royal Society of Tasmania",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.26749/rstpp.121.89",
    doi = "10.26749/rstpp.121.89",
    openalex = "W646266391",
    pages = "89-92",
    volume = "121",
    references = "doi101002fedr19770880409, doi101038301028a0, doi10108008120098608729358, doi101098rspb19860081, doi1026749rstpp11117, openalexw2023847064"
}

Actualistic experiments have quantified rate of anaerobic decay and associated mineralization around proteinaceous macro-organisms. Carcasses of the polychaete worm Nereis and the eumalacostracans Nephrops and Palaemon were buried in airtight glass jars filled with sediment and water from marine, brackish, and lacustrine environments. Over a period of 25 weeks the contents were examined to determine the state of decay and were chemically analyzed to monitor early diagenetic mineralization (two methods for such analysis are reviewed). Decay processes were active in the experimental conditions despite anoxia and had virtually destroyed the carcasses within 25 weeks. However, decay-rate in the sulfate-reducing marine system was greater than in the methanogenic freshwater environments. Petrological and geochemical analyses of the organic remains identified discrete layers of authigenic iron monosulfide (a pyrite precursor) on the surface of the decaying Nephrops cuticle within weeks of initiating the experiment. Chemical analysis of decomposing flesh showed a marked increase in pore-water calcium content with time. The results clearly show that anoxia is ineffective as a long-term conservation medium in the preservation of soft-bodied fossils. However, decay-induced mineralization can be very rapid so that even a slight reduction in decay rate can lead to improved levels of fossil preservation. Traditionally, stagnation and rapid burial are considered to be the main prerequisites for the preservation of soft-bodied fossils and the formation of Konservat-Lagerstätten. Clearly these factors are only important in that they promote early diagenetic mineralization. This is the only way to halt information loss through decay.

@article{allison1988the,
    author = "Allison, Peter A.",
    title = "The role of anoxia in the decay and mineralization of proteinaceous macro-fossils",
    year = "1988",
    journal = "Paleobiology",
    abstract = "Actualistic experiments have quantified rate of anaerobic decay and associated mineralization around proteinaceous macro-organisms. Carcasses of the polychaete worm Nereis and the eumalacostracans Nephrops and Palaemon were buried in airtight glass jars filled with sediment and water from marine, brackish, and lacustrine environments. Over a period of 25 weeks the contents were examined to determine the state of decay and were chemically analyzed to monitor early diagenetic mineralization (two methods for such analysis are reviewed). Decay processes were active in the experimental conditions despite anoxia and had virtually destroyed the carcasses within 25 weeks. However, decay-rate in the sulfate-reducing marine system was greater than in the methanogenic freshwater environments. Petrological and geochemical analyses of the organic remains identified discrete layers of authigenic iron monosulfide (a pyrite precursor) on the surface of the decaying Nephrops cuticle within weeks of initiating the experiment. Chemical analysis of decomposing flesh showed a marked increase in pore-water calcium content with time. The results clearly show that anoxia is ineffective as a long-term conservation medium in the preservation of soft-bodied fossils. However, decay-induced mineralization can be very rapid so that even a slight reduction in decay rate can lead to improved levels of fossil preservation. Traditionally, stagnation and rapid burial are considered to be the main prerequisites for the preservation of soft-bodied fossils and the formation of Konservat-Lagerstätten. Clearly these factors are only important in that they promote early diagenetic mineralization. This is the only way to halt information loss through decay.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1017/s009483730001188x",
    doi = "10.1017/s009483730001188x",
    number = "2",
    openalex = "W2487864689",
    pages = "139-154",
    volume = "14",
    references = "doi1010160016703784900899, doi101017s0094837300005996, doi101017s009483730000676x, doi101098rstb19850134, doi101130001676061968791315tailif20co2, doi1015159780691209401, doi102475ajs26811, doi104319lo19842920236, doi105962bhlpart22969, doi105962bhltitle7199, openalexw2754161204, openalexw599354073, schopf1978fossilization"
}

@misc{allison1988the1,
    author = "Allison, P. A",
    title = "The role of anoxia in the decay and mineralization of proteinaceous macro-fossils",
    year = "1988",
    howpublished = "Paleobiology, v. 14, p. 139-154",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Allison, P. A., 1988, The role of anoxia in the decay and mineralization of proteinaceous macro-fossils: Paleobiology, v. 14, p. 139-154.}"
}

Actualistic experiments have quantified rate of anaerobic decay and associated mineralization around proteinaceous macro-organisms. Carcasses of the polychaete worm Nereis and the eumalacostracans Nephrops and Palaemon were buried in airtight glass jars filled with sediment and water from marine, brackish, and lacustrine environments. Over a period of 25 weeks the contents were examined to determine the state of decay and were chemically analyzed to monitor early diagenetic mineralization (two methods for such analysis are reviewed). Decay processes were active in the experimental conditions despite anoxia and had virtually destroyed the carcasses within 25 weeks. However, decay-rate in the sulfate-reducing marine system was greater than in the methanogenic freshwater environments. Petrological and geochemical analyses of the organic remains identified discrete layers of authigenic iron monosulfide (a pyrite precursor) on the surface of the decaying Nephrops cuticle within weeks of initiating the experiment. Chemical analysis of decomposing flesh showed a marked increase in pore-water calcium content with time. The results clearly show that anoxia is ineffective as a long-term conservation medium in the preservation of soft-bodied fossils. However, decay-induced mineralization can be very rapid so that even a slight reduction in decay rate can lead to improved levels of fossil preservation. Traditionally, stagnation and rapid burial are considered to be the main prerequisites for the preservation of soft-bodied fossils and the formation of Konservat-Lagerstätten. Clearly these factors are only important in that they promote early diagenetic mineralization. This is the only way to halt information loss through decay.

@article{doi101017s009483730001188x,
    author = "Allison, Peter A.",
    title = "The role of anoxia in the decay and mineralization of proteinaceous macro-fossils",
    year = "1988",
    journal = "Paleobiology",
    abstract = "Actualistic experiments have quantified rate of anaerobic decay and associated mineralization around proteinaceous macro-organisms. Carcasses of the polychaete worm Nereis and the eumalacostracans Nephrops and Palaemon were buried in airtight glass jars filled with sediment and water from marine, brackish, and lacustrine environments. Over a period of 25 weeks the contents were examined to determine the state of decay and were chemically analyzed to monitor early diagenetic mineralization (two methods for such analysis are reviewed). Decay processes were active in the experimental conditions despite anoxia and had virtually destroyed the carcasses within 25 weeks. However, decay-rate in the sulfate-reducing marine system was greater than in the methanogenic freshwater environments. Petrological and geochemical analyses of the organic remains identified discrete layers of authigenic iron monosulfide (a pyrite precursor) on the surface of the decaying Nephrops cuticle within weeks of initiating the experiment. Chemical analysis of decomposing flesh showed a marked increase in pore-water calcium content with time. The results clearly show that anoxia is ineffective as a long-term conservation medium in the preservation of soft-bodied fossils. However, decay-induced mineralization can be very rapid so that even a slight reduction in decay rate can lead to improved levels of fossil preservation. Traditionally, stagnation and rapid burial are considered to be the main prerequisites for the preservation of soft-bodied fossils and the formation of Konservat-Lagerstätten. Clearly these factors are only important in that they promote early diagenetic mineralization. This is the only way to halt information loss through decay.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1017/s009483730001188x",
    doi = "10.1017/s009483730001188x",
    openalex = "W2487864689",
    references = "doi1010160016703784900899, doi101098rstb19850134, doi101130001676061968791315tailif20co2, doi1015159780691209401, doi102475ajs26811, doi104319lo19842920236, doi105962bhlpart22969, openalexw2754161204, openalexw599354073"
}

Fifteen new species belonging to five genera (one, Mesibovia, newly described) of the Podocarpaceae with imbricate leaves are described from Oligocene–Early Miocene localities in Tasmania. Nine of these species belong to Dacrycarpus, which is now extinct in Australia, and their living affinities are widespread in latitude and altitude from New Zealand to New Guinea. Three species of Dacrydium s. str. demonstrate that this genus was diverse in Tasmania in the Tertiary, although it is now extinct in Australia. A species of Microstrobos, which is very similar to the extant alpine/subalpine Tasmanian endemic M. niphophilus, occurs in both high- and low-altitude sites, and suggests that this type was once more widespread. The Oligocene Lagarostrobos marginata is intermediate between the two extant species of Lagarostrobos, and suggests a closer relationship between them than do other lines of evidence. Mesibovia rhomboideu, recovered from three localities, shares features with several extant genera, and is of importance in understanding evolution within this group. The significance of the fossils for climatic and vegetation reconstruction is discussed.

@article{doi101071sb9890387,
    author = "Wells, PM and Hill, RS",
    title = "Fossil imbricate-leaved Podocarpaceae from tertiary sediments in Tasmania",
    year = "1989",
    journal = "Australian Systematic Botany",
    abstract = "Fifteen new species belonging to five genera (one, Mesibovia, newly described) of the Podocarpaceae with imbricate leaves are described from Oligocene–Early Miocene localities in Tasmania. Nine of these species belong to Dacrycarpus, which is now extinct in Australia, and their living affinities are widespread in latitude and altitude from New Zealand to New Guinea. Three species of Dacrydium s. str. demonstrate that this genus was diverse in Tasmania in the Tertiary, although it is now extinct in Australia. A species of Microstrobos, which is very similar to the extant alpine/subalpine Tasmanian endemic M. niphophilus, occurs in both high- and low-altitude sites, and suggests that this type was once more widespread. The Oligocene Lagarostrobos marginata is intermediate between the two extant species of Lagarostrobos, and suggests a closer relationship between them than do other lines of evidence. Mesibovia rhomboideu, recovered from three localities, shares features with several extant genera, and is of importance in understanding evolution within this group. The significance of the fossils for climatic and vegetation reconstruction is discussed.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1071/sb9890387",
    doi = "10.1071/sb9890387",
    openalex = "W2037809290",
    references = "colhoun1987pleistocene"
}

Laboratory experiments on regular echinoids indicate that low water temperatures retard organic decomposition far more effectively than anoxia, and that the primary role of anoxia in the preservation of articulated multi-element calcareous skeletons may be in excluding scavenging organisms. When tumbled at 20 rpm, specimens that were first allowed to decay for two days in warm seawater (30°C) disintegrated more than six times faster than specimens treated at room temperature (23°C) and more than an order of magnitude faster than specimens treated in cool water (11°C). In contrast, the effects of aerobic versus anerobic decay on disintegration rates were insignificant. The longer the period that specimens were allowed to decay before tumbling, the greater the rate at which specimens disintegrated, until a threshold time that appears to mark the decomposition of collagenous ligaments. This required a few days at 30°C, about two weeks at 23°C, and more than 4 weeks at 11°C for Strongylocentrotus. Up until this threshold, coronas disintegrate by a combination of cross-plate fractures and separation along plate sutures; cross-plate fractures thus can be taphonomic in origin and are not necessarily related to predation. Specimens decayed for longer-than-threshold periods of time disintegrate virtually instantaneously upon tumbling by sutural separation only. Undisturbed coronas can remain intact for months, sufficient time for epibiont occupation. Rates of disintegration were documented semi-quantitatively by recognizing seven stages of test disarticulation, and quantitatively by tensometer measures of test strength and toughness. The effects of temperature and oxygen on decay and the existence of a decay threshold in disintegration should apply at least in a qualitative sense to many other animals whose skeletons consist of multiple, collagen-bound elements. Regular echinoids should still be perceived as taphonomically fragile organisms, but our results suggest the potential for latitudinal as well as bathymetric gradients in the preservation of fossil echinoid faunas. Echinoid preservation under any given set of conditions should also be a function of taxonomic differences in test construction (particularly stereom interlocking along plate sutures) as suggested by previous workers, although our experiments indicate that these effects should only be significant among post-threshold specimens. A survey of regular echinoids from Upper Cretaceous white chalk facies of Britain substantiates the basic experimental patterns, yielding examples of all disarticulation stages and significant taxonomic differences in quality of preservation. A diverse array of borers and encrusters on fossil coronas also corroborates the post-mortem persistence of some tests on mid-latitude seafloors.

@article{doi101017s0094837300009982,
    author = "Kidwell, Susan M. and Baumiller, Tomasz K.",
    title = "Experimental disintegration of regular echinoids: roles of temperature, oxygen, and decay thresholds",
    year = "1990",
    journal = "Paleobiology",
    abstract = "Laboratory experiments on regular echinoids indicate that low water temperatures retard organic decomposition far more effectively than anoxia, and that the primary role of anoxia in the preservation of articulated multi-element calcareous skeletons may be in excluding scavenging organisms. When tumbled at 20 rpm, specimens that were first allowed to decay for two days in warm seawater (30°C) disintegrated more than six times faster than specimens treated at room temperature (23°C) and more than an order of magnitude faster than specimens treated in cool water (11°C). In contrast, the effects of aerobic versus anerobic decay on disintegration rates were insignificant. The longer the period that specimens were allowed to decay before tumbling, the greater the rate at which specimens disintegrated, until a threshold time that appears to mark the decomposition of collagenous ligaments. This required a few days at 30°C, about two weeks at 23°C, and more than 4 weeks at 11°C for Strongylocentrotus. Up until this threshold, coronas disintegrate by a combination of cross-plate fractures and separation along plate sutures; cross-plate fractures thus can be taphonomic in origin and are not necessarily related to predation. Specimens decayed for longer-than-threshold periods of time disintegrate virtually instantaneously upon tumbling by sutural separation only. Undisturbed coronas can remain intact for months, sufficient time for epibiont occupation. Rates of disintegration were documented semi-quantitatively by recognizing seven stages of test disarticulation, and quantitatively by tensometer measures of test strength and toughness. The effects of temperature and oxygen on decay and the existence of a decay threshold in disintegration should apply at least in a qualitative sense to many other animals whose skeletons consist of multiple, collagen-bound elements. Regular echinoids should still be perceived as taphonomically fragile organisms, but our results suggest the potential for latitudinal as well as bathymetric gradients in the preservation of fossil echinoid faunas. Echinoid preservation under any given set of conditions should also be a function of taxonomic differences in test construction (particularly stereom interlocking along plate sutures) as suggested by previous workers, although our experiments indicate that these effects should only be significant among post-threshold specimens. A survey of regular echinoids from Upper Cretaceous white chalk facies of Britain substantiates the basic experimental patterns, yielding examples of all disarticulation stages and significant taxonomic differences in quality of preservation. A diverse array of borers and encrusters on fossil coronas also corroborates the post-mortem persistence of some tests on mid-latitude seafloors.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1017/s0094837300009982",
    doi = "10.1017/s0094837300009982",
    openalex = "W2493502125",
    references = "doi101017s0094837300005248"
}

@incollection{doi10100797814899503457,
    author = "Canfield, Donald E. and Raiswell, R.",
    title = "Pyrite Formation and Fossil Preservation",
    year = "1991",
    booktitle = "Topics in geobiology",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-5034-5\_7",
    doi = "10.1007/978-1-4899-5034-5\_7",
    openalex = "W2483523994",
    references = "doi101017s0094837300012082, doi1023073514686"
}

The trace fossil Oldhamia reflects systematic strip mining of an infaunal, worm-like sediment feeder. It is known from many parts of the world in Cambrian complexes, whose flysch-like and accreted character suggests deposition on a deep continental slope. In similar rocks of the North Carolina Slate Belt. Oldhamia is associated with rare specimens of the Ediacara-type body fossil Pteridinium, as well as tool marks of a problematic stiff organism reminiscent of graptolite stipes (Vendospica). This occurrence (1) extends the stratigraphic range of Oldhamia into the Late Proterozoic. It also reminds us that, by that time, worm-like, endobenthic bilaterians (2) had become behaviorally specialized and (3) had colonized shelf and deep-sea bottoms well before the Cambrian evolutionary explosion. (4) Since bioturbators were small and did burrow strictly along bedding planes, their mixing effect was as yet negligible. (5) The new tool-mark fossils tell us that complex, organic-walled and perhaps colonial organisms were around in addition to sand-corals (Psammocorallia), possibly sponges and the probably plasmodial Vendobionta.

@article{doi101017s247526220000825x,
    author = "Seilacher, Adolf and Pflüger, Friedrich",
    title = "Trace fossils from the Late Proterozoic of North Carolina: early conquest of deep-sea bottoms",
    year = "1992",
    journal = "The Paleontological Society Special Publications",
    abstract = "The trace fossil Oldhamia reflects systematic strip mining of an infaunal, worm-like sediment feeder. It is known from many parts of the world in Cambrian complexes, whose flysch-like and accreted character suggests deposition on a deep continental slope. In similar rocks of the North Carolina Slate Belt. Oldhamia is associated with rare specimens of the Ediacara-type body fossil Pteridinium, as well as tool marks of a problematic stiff organism reminiscent of graptolite stipes (Vendospica). This occurrence (1) extends the stratigraphic range of Oldhamia into the Late Proterozoic. It also reminds us that, by that time, worm-like, endobenthic bilaterians (2) had become behaviorally specialized and (3) had colonized shelf and deep-sea bottoms well before the Cambrian evolutionary explosion. (4) Since bioturbators were small and did burrow strictly along bedding planes, their mixing effect was as yet negligible. (5) The new tool-mark fossils tell us that complex, organic-walled and perhaps colonial organisms were around in addition to sand-corals (Psammocorallia), possibly sponges and the probably plasmodial Vendobionta.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1017/s247526220000825x",
    doi = "10.1017/s247526220000825x",
    openalex = "W2784002077"
}

@article{doi105860choice300309,
    author = "Allison, PA and Briggs, DEG",
    title = "Taphonomy: releasing the data locked in the fossil record",
    year = "1992",
    journal = "Choice Reviews Online",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.30-0309",
    doi = "10.5860/choice.30-0309",
    openalex = "W1587340106"
}

A series of experiments was carried out to investigate the nature and controls (oxygen, microbial populations, agitation) on the degradation of soft tissues. Decay was monitored in terms of morphological change, weight loss, and change in chemical composition in the polychaete Nereis virens. Polychaetes include a range of tissue types of differing chemical composition and preservation potential: muscle, cuticle, setae, and jaws. Regardless of conditions, all the muscle had broken down and fluid loss through the ruptured cuticle had reduced the carcass to two dimensions within 8 days at 20°C. In most cases some cuticle, in addition to the jaws and setae, remained after 30 days. Where oxygen was completely eliminated, the rate of decay of the more volatile issues was significantly reduced. The degree of both osmotic uptake of water by the carcass and changes in water pH differed depending on whether the system was open or closed to oxygen diffusion. Autolytic and chemical processes are not sufficient to fully degrade the carcass in the absence of bacteria. Where internal bacteria are present, the presence or absence of water column bacteria made little difference to decay rate. Initial degradation (in the first 3 days) affects mainly the lipid fraction and the collagen of the cuticle. Later decay reduces the nonsoluble protein and increases the relative proportion of refractory structural components (tanned chitin and collagen) to more than 95% by day 30. Thus, only the sclerotized tissues are likely to survive beyond 30 days in the absence of early diagenetic mineralization. The sequence of degradation predicted from the relative decay resistance of macromolecules in the sedimentary record (protein → carbohydrate → lipid) is not, therefore, a consistent indicator of the preservation potential of structural tissues which incorporate them. The experiments reveal five stages in the decay of polychaete carcasses; whole/shriveled, flaccid, unsupported gut, cuticle sac, jaws and setae. All are represented in the fossil record. This allows an estimation of how far decay proceeded before it was halted by the fossilization process. The most complete preservations occur in the Cambrian where the Burgess Shale preserves evidence of muscle tissues. Traces of the gut and cuticle are more widely preserved, as at Mazon Creek, Grès à Voltzia, Solnhofen, and Hakel. Preservation varies within Konservat-Lagerstätten. The most common whole body preservation includes only the more recalcitrant tissues, jaws (where present) and setae, with an impression of the body outline. The stage of decay can be used as a taphonomic threshold, to provide an indication of how significantly the diversity of an exceptionally preserved biota is likely to have been reduced by taphonomic loss.

@article{doi101017s0094837300012343,
    author = "Briggs, Derek E. G. and Kear, Amanda J.",
    title = "Decay and preservation of polychaetes: taphonomic thresholds in soft-bodied organisms",
    year = "1993",
    journal = "Paleobiology",
    abstract = "A series of experiments was carried out to investigate the nature and controls (oxygen, microbial populations, agitation) on the degradation of soft tissues. Decay was monitored in terms of morphological change, weight loss, and change in chemical composition in the polychaete Nereis virens. Polychaetes include a range of tissue types of differing chemical composition and preservation potential: muscle, cuticle, setae, and jaws. Regardless of conditions, all the muscle had broken down and fluid loss through the ruptured cuticle had reduced the carcass to two dimensions within 8 days at 20°C. In most cases some cuticle, in addition to the jaws and setae, remained after 30 days. Where oxygen was completely eliminated, the rate of decay of the more volatile issues was significantly reduced. The degree of both osmotic uptake of water by the carcass and changes in water pH differed depending on whether the system was open or closed to oxygen diffusion. Autolytic and chemical processes are not sufficient to fully degrade the carcass in the absence of bacteria. Where internal bacteria are present, the presence or absence of water column bacteria made little difference to decay rate. Initial degradation (in the first 3 days) affects mainly the lipid fraction and the collagen of the cuticle. Later decay reduces the nonsoluble protein and increases the relative proportion of refractory structural components (tanned chitin and collagen) to more than 95\% by day 30. Thus, only the sclerotized tissues are likely to survive beyond 30 days in the absence of early diagenetic mineralization. The sequence of degradation predicted from the relative decay resistance of macromolecules in the sedimentary record (protein → carbohydrate → lipid) is not, therefore, a consistent indicator of the preservation potential of structural tissues which incorporate them. The experiments reveal five stages in the decay of polychaete carcasses; whole/shriveled, flaccid, unsupported gut, cuticle sac, jaws and setae. All are represented in the fossil record. This allows an estimation of how far decay proceeded before it was halted by the fossilization process. The most complete preservations occur in the Cambrian where the Burgess Shale preserves evidence of muscle tissues. Traces of the gut and cuticle are more widely preserved, as at Mazon Creek, Grès à Voltzia, Solnhofen, and Hakel. Preservation varies within Konservat-Lagerstätten. The most common whole body preservation includes only the more recalcitrant tissues, jaws (where present) and setae, with an impression of the body outline. The stage of decay can be used as a taphonomic threshold, to provide an indication of how significantly the diversity of an exceptionally preserved biota is likely to have been reduced by taphonomic loss.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1017/s0094837300012343",
    doi = "10.1017/s0094837300012343",
    openalex = "W1959245684",
    references = "doi101016003101829390065q, doi101038345802a0, doi10108003115517908565437, doi101144gsjgs14940631, doi105860choice295135"
}

Soft-tissues phosphatized in laboratory experiments closely resemble fossil phosphatized soft-tissues, indicating that similar processes were involved. The smaller the aggregations of calcium phosphate particles precipitated the greater the fidelity of morphological preservation. The highest fidelity occurs where the bacteria themselves are not replicated even though precipitation is bacterially induced. While extensive phosphatization of larger carcasses, however, may necessitate the build-up of concentrations in the sediment beforehand, this is not the case for phosphatization of small quantities of soft-tissue. Mineralization of soft-tissue in the laboratory is not ‘instant’ but may take several weeks, or even months if decay is inhibited. The precipitation of associated calcium carbonate is controlled by shifts in pH in response to the decay process.

@article{doi101144gsjgs15061035,
    author = "Briggs, Derek E. G. and Kear, Amanda J. and Martill, David M. and Wilby, Philip R.",
    title = "Phosphatization of soft-tissue in experiments and fossils",
    year = "1993",
    journal = "Journal of the Geological Society",
    abstract = "Soft-tissues phosphatized in laboratory experiments closely resemble fossil phosphatized soft-tissues, indicating that similar processes were involved. The smaller the aggregations of calcium phosphate particles precipitated the greater the fidelity of morphological preservation. The highest fidelity occurs where the bacteria themselves are not replicated even though precipitation is bacterially induced. While extensive phosphatization of larger carcasses, however, may necessitate the build-up of concentrations in the sediment beforehand, this is not the case for phosphatization of small quantities of soft-tissue. Mineralization of soft-tissue in the laboratory is not ‘instant’ but may take several weeks, or even months if decay is inhibited. The precipitation of associated calcium carbonate is controlled by shifts in pH in response to the decay process.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1144/gsjgs.150.6.1035",
    doi = "10.1144/gsjgs.150.6.1035",
    openalex = "W2161493414",
    references = "briggs1994decay, openalexw193970361"
}

@article{briggs1994decay,
    author = "Briggs, Derek E. G. and Kear, Amanda J.",
    title = "Decay and Mineralization of Shrimps",
    year = "1994",
    journal = "PALAIOS",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.2307/3515135",
    doi = "10.2307/3515135",
    number = "5",
    openalex = "W2015000408",
    pages = "431",
    volume = "9",
    references = "allison1988the, doi101017s0094837300009982, doi101017s0094837300009994, doi101017s0094837300012343, doi101038346171a0, doi101126science1593811195, doi101126science25951001439, doi101144gsjgs15061035, doi101306d42676db2b2611d78648000102c1865d, doi10310910520298309066811"
}

Authigenic minerals play an important role in the preservation of most soft-bodied fossils. The greatest detail is preserved in apatite (calcium phosphate) but its precipitation is usually inhibited by the high concentrations of HCO 3 - in aqueous settings. Nonetheless, investigations of soft-bodied biotas have revealed very early authigenic calcite crystal bundles in close association with phosphatized soft-tissues. This demonstrates that the geochemical controls on soft-tissue mineralization are dynamic and act on a very local scale. Direct comparisons with experimental results permit the conditions of fossilization to be inferred.

@article{briggs1996the,
    author = "BRIGGS, DEREK E. G. and WILBY, PHILIP R.",
    title = "The role of the calcium carbonate-calcium phosphate switch in the mineralization of soft-bodied fossils",
    year = "1996",
    journal = "Journal of the Geological Society",
    abstract = "Authigenic minerals play an important role in the preservation of most soft-bodied fossils. The greatest detail is preserved in apatite (calcium phosphate) but its precipitation is usually inhibited by the high concentrations of HCO 3 - in aqueous settings. Nonetheless, investigations of soft-bodied biotas have revealed very early authigenic calcite crystal bundles in close association with phosphatized soft-tissues. This demonstrates that the geochemical controls on soft-tissue mineralization are dynamic and act on a very local scale. Direct comparisons with experimental results permit the conditions of fossilization to be inferred.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1144/gsjgs.153.5.0665",
    doi = "10.1144/gsjgs.153.5.0665",
    number = "5",
    openalex = "W2053600018",
    pages = "665-668",
    volume = "153",
    references = "briggs1994decay, doi101016001670379090374t, doi1010160016703793903816, doi101017s0094837300012082, doi101038269209a0, doi101098rstb19850134, doi101126science25951001439, doi1011300091761319960240787rommit23co2, doi101306d42676db2b2611d78648000102c1865d, doi1023073514973"
}

@article{doi101016s0016699597800563,
    author = "Wilby, Philip R. and Briggs, Derek E. G.",
    title = "Taxonomic trends in the resolution of detail preserved in fossil phosphatized soft tissues",
    year = "1997",
    journal = "Geobios",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/s0016-6995(97)80056-3",
    doi = "10.1016/s0016-6995(97)80056-3",
    openalex = "W1970756217",
    references = "briggs1996the"
}

@article{doi101016s0031018297001089,
    author = "Markwick, Paul",
    title = "Fossil crocodilians as indicators of Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic climates: implications for using palaeontological data in reconstructing palaeoclimate",
    year = "1998",
    journal = "Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/s0031-0182(97)00108-9",
    doi = "10.1016/s0031-0182(97)00108-9",
    openalex = "W2092060384",
    references = "doi10100797814899503456, doi10100797894011125435, doi1010160031018265900131, doi101016003101829290096n, doi101016003192018990263x, doi1010160195667191900155, doi101017s0094837300006060, doi101029pa002i001p00001, doi1010719781486309702, doi101098rstb19930109, doi101126science19142321131, doi101126science24148691043, doi10113000917613198614535scaia20co2, doi101146annurevph57030195000441, doi102110pec88010071, doi1023071444927, doi1023071563593, doi1023073514444, doi1023073514548, doi1023073669094, doi102973odpprocsr1192001991, openalexw2983381470, openalexw575222456, spotila1973a"
}

A new species of Nothofagus, N. pachyphylla, is proposed based on fossils from Early Pleistocene sediments at Regatta Point, western Tasmania. This extinct species occurred for some time with its sister species, N. cunninghamii, which is still extant in Tasmania. The fossil leaves of N. cunninghamii in the Regatta Point sediments are all very small and are only consistent with leaves from cold climate extant populations of this species. The fossil leaves of other taxa in these sediments are also mostly at the small (and cool climate) end of the range of the leaves of their extant relatives. These data provide corroborating evidence for floristically based inferences of colder than modern palaeoclimates for this fossil site. The co-occurrence of small- and large-leaved sister species is paralleled in a number of modern Tasmanian rainforest genera.

@article{doi101071sb98025,
    author = "Jordan, Gregory J.",
    title = "A new early pleistocene species of Nothofagus and the climatic implications of co-occurring Nothofagus fossils",
    year = "1999",
    journal = "Australian Systematic Botany",
    abstract = "A new species of Nothofagus, N. pachyphylla, is proposed based on fossils from Early Pleistocene sediments at Regatta Point, western Tasmania. This extinct species occurred for some time with its sister species, N. cunninghamii, which is still extant in Tasmania. The fossil leaves of N. cunninghamii in the Regatta Point sediments are all very small and are only consistent with leaves from cold climate extant populations of this species. The fossil leaves of other taxa in these sediments are also mostly at the small (and cool climate) end of the range of the leaves of their extant relatives. These data provide corroborating evidence for floristically based inferences of colder than modern palaeoclimates for this fossil site. The co-occurrence of small- and large-leaved sister species is paralleled in a number of modern Tasmanian rainforest genera.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1071/sb98025",
    doi = "10.1071/sb98025",
    openalex = "W2158933439",
    references = "colhoun1987pleistocene"
}

Phosphorites of the late Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation exposed in the vicinity of Weng'an, Guizhou Province, and Chadian, Shaanxi Province, South China, contain exceptionally well-preserved algal thalli, acritarchs, and globular microfossils interpreted as animal embryos. Combined optical microscopic and SEM observations provide insights into the taphonomy of phosphatized fossils. Algal cells and tissues are variably resistant to decay, and within preserved populations permineralization began at varying stages of degradation. In consequence, there is a spectrum of quality in cellular preservation. Algal cell walls, acritarch vesicles, and embryo envelopes are commonly encrusted by an isopachous rim of apatite, with cell interiors filled by collophane and later diagenetic dolomite. In contrast, blastomere surfaces of animal embryos are encrusted primarily by minute phosphatic spherules and filaments, possibly reflecting an immediately postmortem infestation of bacteria that provided nucleation sites for phosphate crystal growth. Thus, the same processes that gave rise to Phanerozoic phosphatized Lagerstatten--phosphatic encrustation, and impregnation, probably mediated by microbial activity--effected soft-tissue preservation in the Doushantuo Lagerstatte. It remains unclear how phosphatic ions and organic macromolecules interact at the molecular level and to what extent specific microbial metabolisms or microenvironmental conditions control the phosphatization of soft tissues. New observations of phosphatized Doushantuo fossils include: a second locality (Chadian) for Wengania globosa, interpreted as an algal thallus and previously known only from Weng'an; microtunnels in Weng'an phosphorites interpreted as pyrite trails; and new taxa described from Weng'an: Meghystrichosphaeridium reticulatum (acritarch), Sarcinophycus radiatus (algal thallus), and one unnamed problematic form.

@article{doi101111j150239311999tb00541x,
    author = "Xiao, Shuhai and Knoll, Andrew H.",
    title = "Fossil preservation in the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo phosphorite Lagerstätte, South China",
    year = "1999",
    journal = "Lethaia",
    abstract = "Phosphorites of the late Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation exposed in the vicinity of Weng'an, Guizhou Province, and Chadian, Shaanxi Province, South China, contain exceptionally well-preserved algal thalli, acritarchs, and globular microfossils interpreted as animal embryos. Combined optical microscopic and SEM observations provide insights into the taphonomy of phosphatized fossils. Algal cells and tissues are variably resistant to decay, and within preserved populations permineralization began at varying stages of degradation. In consequence, there is a spectrum of quality in cellular preservation. Algal cell walls, acritarch vesicles, and embryo envelopes are commonly encrusted by an isopachous rim of apatite, with cell interiors filled by collophane and later diagenetic dolomite. In contrast, blastomere surfaces of animal embryos are encrusted primarily by minute phosphatic spherules and filaments, possibly reflecting an immediately postmortem infestation of bacteria that provided nucleation sites for phosphate crystal growth. Thus, the same processes that gave rise to Phanerozoic phosphatized Lagerstatten--phosphatic encrustation, and impregnation, probably mediated by microbial activity--effected soft-tissue preservation in the Doushantuo Lagerstatte. It remains unclear how phosphatic ions and organic macromolecules interact at the molecular level and to what extent specific microbial metabolisms or microenvironmental conditions control the phosphatization of soft tissues. New observations of phosphatized Doushantuo fossils include: a second locality (Chadian) for Wengania globosa, interpreted as an algal thallus and previously known only from Weng'an; microtunnels in Weng'an phosphorites interpreted as pyrite trails; and new taxa described from Weng'an: Meghystrichosphaeridium reticulatum (acritarch), Sarcinophycus radiatus (algal thallus), and one unnamed problematic form.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1502-3931.1999.tb00541.x",
    doi = "10.1111/j.1502-3931.1999.tb00541.x",
    openalex = "W2114329528",
    references = "bengtson1976the, briggs1994decay, doi1010160301926879900226, doi101017s0022336000025567, doi101098rstb19850139, doi101111j150239311995tb01587x"
}

Molecular fossils of biological lipids are preserved in 2700-million-year-old shales from the Pilbara Craton, Australia. Sequential extraction of adjacent samples shows that these hydrocarbon biomarkers are indigenous and syngenetic to the Archean shales, greatly extending the known geological range of such molecules. The presence of abundant 2α-methylhopanes, which are characteristic of cyanobacteria, indicates that oxygenic photosynthesis evolved well before the atmosphere became oxidizing. The presence of steranes, particularly cholestane and its 28- to 30-carbon analogs, provides persuasive evidence for the existence of eukaryotes 500 million to 1 billion years before the extant fossil record indicates that the lineage arose.

@article{doi101126science28554301033,
    author = "Brocks, Jochen J. and Logan, Graham A. and Buick, Roger and Summons, Roger E.",
    title = "Archean Molecular Fossils and the Early Rise of Eukaryotes",
    year = "1999",
    journal = "Science",
    abstract = "Molecular fossils of biological lipids are preserved in 2700-million-year-old shales from the Pilbara Craton, Australia. Sequential extraction of adjacent samples shows that these hydrocarbon biomarkers are indigenous and syngenetic to the Archean shales, greatly extending the known geological range of such molecules. The presence of abundant 2α-methylhopanes, which are characteristic of cyanobacteria, indicates that oxygenic photosynthesis evolved well before the atmosphere became oxidizing. The presence of steranes, particularly cholestane and its 28- to 30-carbon analogs, provides persuasive evidence for the existence of eukaryotes 500 million to 1 billion years before the extant fossil record indicates that the lineage arose.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.285.5430.1033",
    doi = "10.1126/science.285.5430.1033",
    openalex = "W2032247127",
    references = "doi101038362834a0, doi101038376053a0, doi101038384055a0, doi101126science11539686, doi101126science1585174, doi101126science1603829729, doi101126science1631544, doi101126science2605108640, doi101146annurevmi41100187001505, doi102113gsecongeo6871135"
}

It has long been assumed that the extant bilaterian phyla generally have their origin in the Cambrian explosion, when they appear in an essentially modern form. Both these assumptions are questionable. A strict application of stem- and crown-group concepts to phyla shows that although the branching points of many clades may have occurred in the Early Cambrian or before, the appearance of the modern body plans was in most cases later: very few bilaterian phyla sensu stricto have demonstrable representatives in the earliest Cambrian. Given that the early branching points of major clades is an inevitable result of the geometry of clade diversi®cation, the alleged phenomenon of phyla appearing early and remaining morphologically static is seen not to require particular explanation. Confusion in the de®nition of a phylum has thus led to attempts to explain (especially from a developmental perspective) a feature that is partly inevitable, partly illusory. We critically discuss models for Proterozoic diversi®cation based on small body size, limited developmental capacity and poor preservation and cryptic habits, and show that the prospect of lineage diversi®cation occurring early in the Proterozoic can be seen to be unlikely on grounds of both parsimonyand functional morphology. Indeed, the combination of the body and trace fossil record demonstrates a progressive diversi®cation through the end of the Proterozoic well into the Cambrian and beyond, a picture consistent with body plans being assembled during this time. Body-plan characters are likely to have been acquired monophyletically in the history of the bilaterians, and a model explaining the diversity in just oneof them, the coelom, is presented. This analysis points to the requirement for a careful application of systematic methodology before explanations are sought for alleged patterns of constraint and ¯fexibility.

@article{doi101017s000632310000548x,
    author = "Budd, Graham E. and Jensen, Sören",
    title = "A critical reappraisal of the fossil record of the bilaterian phyla",
    year = "2000",
    journal = "Biological reviews/Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society",
    abstract = "It has long been assumed that the extant bilaterian phyla generally have their origin in the Cambrian explosion, when they appear in an essentially modern form. Both these assumptions are questionable. A strict application of stem- and crown-group concepts to phyla shows that although the branching points of many clades may have occurred in the Early Cambrian or before, the appearance of the modern body plans was in most cases later: very few bilaterian phyla sensu stricto have demonstrable representatives in the earliest Cambrian. Given that the early branching points of major clades is an inevitable result of the geometry of clade diversi®cation, the alleged phenomenon of phyla appearing early and remaining morphologically static is seen not to require particular explanation. Confusion in the de®nition of a phylum has thus led to attempts to explain (especially from a developmental perspective) a feature that is partly inevitable, partly illusory. We critically discuss models for Proterozoic diversi®cation based on small body size, limited developmental capacity and poor preservation and cryptic habits, and show that the prospect of lineage diversi®cation occurring early in the Proterozoic can be seen to be unlikely on grounds of both parsimonyand functional morphology. Indeed, the combination of the body and trace fossil record demonstrates a progressive diversi®cation through the end of the Proterozoic well into the Cambrian and beyond, a picture consistent with body plans being assembled during this time. Body-plan characters are likely to have been acquired monophyletically in the history of the bilaterians, and a model explaining the diversity in just oneof them, the coelom, is presented. This analysis points to the requirement for a careful application of systematic methodology before explanations are sought for alleged patterns of constraint and ¯fexibility.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1017/s000632310000548x",
    doi = "10.1017/s000632310000548x",
    openalex = "W2148377177",
    references = "doi101002aja1002030302, doi101002jmor1050540103, doi101017s0022336000024963, doi101017s0094837300012793, doi101017s009483730001681x, doi10103835318, doi101038361490a0, doi101038377720a0, doi101038382127a0, doi101038387489a0, doi10103846965, doi101098rstb19780005, doi101098rstb19790006, doi101098rstb19950029, doi101111j109583121996tb01693x, doi101111j109600311991tb00045x, doi101111j146363951991tb00312x, doi101111j146363951995tb00988x, doi101111j146364091991tb00303x, doi101111j1469185x1988tb00631x, doi101111j150239311975tb01311x, doi101111j150239311990tb01373x, doi101111j150239311998tb00509x, doi101126science28354091919, doi101126science28454232129, doi101126science7886451, doi101139e87124, doi101508300037918, doi101826182003741571989, doi101826182003769311997, doi1023073515360, doi1023073515362, doi1023073515363, doi105281zenodo16238847, dzik1988the, openalexw2055967869, openalexw2598873191, openalexw2754161204"
}

Phosphatic sedimentary rocks preserve a record of early animal life different from and complementary to that provided by Ediacaran fossils in terminal Proterozoic sandstones and shales. Phosphorites of the Doushantuo Formation, South China, contain eggs, egg cases, and stereoblastulae that document animals of unspecified phylogenetic position; small fossils containing putative spicules may specifically record the presence of sponges. Microfossils recently interpreted as the preserved gastrulae of cnidarian and bilaterian metazoans can alternatively be interpreted as conventional algal cysts and/or egg cases modified by diagenetic processes known to have had a pervasive influence on Doushantuo phosphorites. Regardless of this interpretation, evidence for Doushantuo eumetazoans is provided by millimeter-scale tubes that display tabulation and apical budding characteristic of some Cnidaria, especially the extinct tabulates. Like some Ediacaran remains, these small, benthic, colonial fossils may represent stem-group eumetazoans or stem-group cnidarians that lived in the late Proterozoic ocean.

@article{doi101073pnas250491697,
    author = "Xiao, Shuhai and Yuan, Xunlai and Knoll, Andrew H.",
    title = "Eumetazoan fossils in terminal Proterozoic phosphorites?",
    year = "2000",
    journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences",
    abstract = "Phosphatic sedimentary rocks preserve a record of early animal life different from and complementary to that provided by Ediacaran fossils in terminal Proterozoic sandstones and shales. Phosphorites of the Doushantuo Formation, South China, contain eggs, egg cases, and stereoblastulae that document animals of unspecified phylogenetic position; small fossils containing putative spicules may specifically record the presence of sponges. Microfossils recently interpreted as the preserved gastrulae of cnidarian and bilaterian metazoans can alternatively be interpreted as conventional algal cysts and/or egg cases modified by diagenetic processes known to have had a pervasive influence on Doushantuo phosphorites. Regardless of this interpretation, evidence for Doushantuo eumetazoans is provided by millimeter-scale tubes that display tabulation and apical budding characteristic of some Cnidaria, especially the extinct tabulates. Like some Ediacaran remains, these small, benthic, colonial fossils may represent stem-group eumetazoans or stem-group cnidarians that lived in the late Proterozoic ocean.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.250491697",
    doi = "10.1073/pnas.250491697",
    openalex = "W2004614425",
    references = "bengtson1976the, doi101016003101829390065q, doi101098rstb19850139"
}

A uranium-lead zircon age for a volcanic ash interstratified with fossil-bearing, shallow marine siliciclastic rocks in the Zimnie Gory section of the White Sea region indicates that a diverse assemblage of body and trace fossils occurred before 555.3 +/- 0.3 million years ago. This age is a minimum for the oldest well-documented triploblastic bilaterian Kimberella. It also makes co-occurring trace fossils the oldest that are reliably dated. This determination of age implies that there is no simple relation between Ediacaran diversity and the carbon isotopic composition of Neoproterozoic seawater.

@article{doi101126science2885467841,
    author = "Martin, Mark W. and Grazhdankin, Dmitriy and Bowring, Samuel A. and Evans, David A.D. and Fedonkin, M. A. and Kirschvink, Joseph L.",
    title = "Age of Neoproterozoic Bilatarian Body and Trace Fossils, White Sea, Russia: Implications for Metazoan Evolution",
    year = "2000",
    journal = "Science",
    abstract = "A uranium-lead zircon age for a volcanic ash interstratified with fossil-bearing, shallow marine siliciclastic rocks in the Zimnie Gory section of the White Sea region indicates that a diverse assemblage of body and trace fossils occurred before 555.3 +/- 0.3 million years ago. This age is a minimum for the oldest well-documented triploblastic bilaterian Kimberella. It also makes co-occurring trace fossils the oldest that are reliably dated. This determination of age implies that there is no simple relation between Ediacaran diversity and the carbon isotopic composition of Neoproterozoic seawater.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.288.5467.841",
    doi = "10.1126/science.288.5467.841",
    openalex = "W1993655526",
    references = "doi101139e87124, doi1023073515363"
}

▪ Abstract Fossil deposits that preserve soft-bodied organisms provide critical evidence of the history of life. Usually, only more decay resistant materials, e.g., cuticles, survive as organic remains as a result of selective preservation and subsequent diagenesis to more resistant biopolymers. Permineralization, the permeation of tissues by mineralizing fluids, may preserve remarkable detail, particularly of plants. However, evidence of more labile tissues, e.g., muscle, normally requires the replication of their morphology by rapid in situ growth of minerals, i.e., authigenic mineralization. This process relies on the steep geochemical gradients generated by decay microbes. The minerals involved, and the level of detail preserved (which may be subcellular), depend on a number of factors, including the nature of microbial activity and amount of decay, availability of ions, and the type of organism that is fossilized. Understanding these controls is essential to determining the conditions that favor exceptional preservation.

@article{briggs2003the,
    author = "Briggs, Derek E.G.",
    title = "The Role of Decay and Mineralization in the Preservation of Soft-Bodied Fossils",
    year = "2003",
    journal = "Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences",
    abstract = "▪ Abstract Fossil deposits that preserve soft-bodied organisms provide critical evidence of the history of life. Usually, only more decay resistant materials, e.g., cuticles, survive as organic remains as a result of selective preservation and subsequent diagenesis to more resistant biopolymers. Permineralization, the permeation of tissues by mineralizing fluids, may preserve remarkable detail, particularly of plants. However, evidence of more labile tissues, e.g., muscle, normally requires the replication of their morphology by rapid in situ growth of minerals, i.e., authigenic mineralization. This process relies on the steep geochemical gradients generated by decay microbes. The minerals involved, and the level of detail preserved (which may be subcellular), depend on a number of factors, including the nature of microbial activity and amount of decay, availability of ions, and the type of organism that is fossilized. Understanding these controls is essential to determining the conditions that favor exceptional preservation.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.earth.31.100901.144746",
    doi = "10.1146/annurev.earth.31.100901.144746",
    number = "1",
    openalex = "W2125375419",
    pages = "275-301",
    volume = "31",
    references = "allison1988the, briggs1994decay, briggs1996the, doi1010160016703789901919, doi1010160016703794902984, doi101016002532279390147n, doi1010160034666775900056, doi101017s0006323199005472, doi101017s0022336000040026, doi101017s0094837300009994, doi101017s009483730001188x, doi101017s0094837300012082, doi101098rstb19790006, doi101098rstb19850134, doi101098rstb19930082, doi101111j150239311983tb01993x, doi101126science25951001439, doi101126science28153801173, doi1011300091761319880160149mibbbs23co2, doi1015159781501509247, doi1016660094837320020280155lgatio20co2, doi1023071222284, doi1023073515360, doi1023073515363, doi105860choice284524, doi107208chicago97802261597130010001, openalexw2754161204"
}

Exceptionally preserved, non-biomineralizing fossils contribute importantly to resolving details of the Cambrian explosion, but little to its overall patterns. Six distinct "types" of exceptional preservation are identified for the terminal Proterozoic-Cambrian interval, each of which is dependent on particular taphonomic circumstances, typically restricted both in space and time. Taphonomic pathways yielding exceptional preservation were particularly variable through the Proterozoic-Cambrian transition, at least in part a consequence of contemporaneous evolutionary innovations. Combined with the reasonably continuous record of "Doushantuo-type preservation," and the fundamentally more robust records of shelly fossils, phytoplankton cysts and trace fossils, these taphonomic perturbations contribute to the documentation of major evolutionary and biogeochemical shifts through the terminal Proterozoic and early Cambrian.Appreciation of the relationship between taphonomic pathway and fossil expression serves as a useful tool for interpreting exceptionally preserved, often problematic, early Cambrian fossils. In shale facies, for example, flattened non-biomineralizing structures typically represent the remains of degradation-resistant acellular and extracellular "tissues" such as chaetae and cuticles, whereas three-dimensional preservation represents labile cellular tissues with a propensity for attracting and precipitating early diagenetic minerals. Such distinction helps to identify the acuticular integument of hyolithids, the chaetae-like nature of Wiwaxia sclerites, the chaetognath-like integument of Amiskwia, the midgut glands of various Burgess Shale arthropods, and the misidentification of deposit-feeding arthropods in the Chengjiang biota. By the same reasoning, putative lobopods in the Sirius Passet biota and putative deuterostomes in the Chengiang biota are better interpreted as arthropods.

@article{doi101093icb431166,
    author = "Butterfield, Nicholas J.",
    title = "Exceptional Fossil Preservation and the Cambrian Explosion",
    year = "2003",
    journal = "Integrative and Comparative Biology",
    abstract = {Exceptionally preserved, non-biomineralizing fossils contribute importantly to resolving details of the Cambrian explosion, but little to its overall patterns. Six distinct "types" of exceptional preservation are identified for the terminal Proterozoic-Cambrian interval, each of which is dependent on particular taphonomic circumstances, typically restricted both in space and time. Taphonomic pathways yielding exceptional preservation were particularly variable through the Proterozoic-Cambrian transition, at least in part a consequence of contemporaneous evolutionary innovations. Combined with the reasonably continuous record of "Doushantuo-type preservation," and the fundamentally more robust records of shelly fossils, phytoplankton cysts and trace fossils, these taphonomic perturbations contribute to the documentation of major evolutionary and biogeochemical shifts through the terminal Proterozoic and early Cambrian.Appreciation of the relationship between taphonomic pathway and fossil expression serves as a useful tool for interpreting exceptionally preserved, often problematic, early Cambrian fossils. In shale facies, for example, flattened non-biomineralizing structures typically represent the remains of degradation-resistant acellular and extracellular "tissues" such as chaetae and cuticles, whereas three-dimensional preservation represents labile cellular tissues with a propensity for attracting and precipitating early diagenetic minerals. Such distinction helps to identify the acuticular integument of hyolithids, the chaetae-like nature of Wiwaxia sclerites, the chaetognath-like integument of Amiskwia, the midgut glands of various Burgess Shale arthropods, and the misidentification of deposit-feeding arthropods in the Chengjiang biota. By the same reasoning, putative lobopods in the Sirius Passet biota and putative deuterostomes in the Chengiang biota are better interpreted as arthropods.},
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/43.1.166",
    doi = "10.1093/icb/43.1.166",
    openalex = "W2181027699",
    references = "doi1010160016703789901919, doi101017s000632310000548x, doi101017s0094837300009994, doi101017s0094837300012082, doi10103834391, doi10103835318, doi101098rstb19790006, doi101098rstb19850005, doi101111j1469185x1999tb00046x, doi101111j150239311975tb01311x, doi101111j150239311994tb01558x, doi101111j150239311995tb01587x, doi101111j150239311995tb01591x, doi101126science1066611, doi101126science28153801173, doi1016660094837320000260386bpngns20co2, doi1016660094837320020280155lgatio20co2, doi1023073514743, doi1023073515360, openalexw2326083785, openalexw2754161204, openalexw3127114020, openalexw659399033"
}

@article{doi101016jgeobios200308001,
    author = "Steiner, Michael and Li, Guoxiang and Qian, Yi and Zhu, Maoyan",
    title = "Lower Cambrian Small Shelly Fossils of northern Sichuan and southern Shaanxi (China), and their biostratigraphic importance",
    year = "2004",
    journal = "Geobios",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geobios.2003.08.001",
    doi = "10.1016/j.geobios.2003.08.001",
    openalex = "W2057859120"
}

The use of nucleotide and amino acid sequences allows improved understanding of the timing of evolutionary events of life on earth. Molecular estimates of divergence times are, however, controversial and are generally much more ancient than suggested by the fossil record. The limited number of genes and species explored and pervasive variations in evolutionary rates are the most likely sources of such discrepancies. Here we compared concatenated amino acid sequences of 129 proteins from 36 eukaryotes to determine the divergence times of several major clades, including animals, fungi, plants, and various protists. Due to significant variations in their evolutionary rates, and to handle the uncertainty of the fossil record, we used a Bayesian relaxed molecular clock simultaneously calibrated by six paleontological constraints. We show that, according to 95% credibility intervals, the eukaryotic kingdoms diversified 950-1,259 million years ago (Mya), animals diverged from choanoflagellates 761-957 Mya, and the debated age of the split between protostomes and deuterostomes occurred 642-761 Mya. The divergence times appeared to be robust with respect to prior assumptions and paleontological calibrations. Interestingly, these relaxed clock time estimates are much more recent than those obtained under the assumption of a global molecular clock, yet bilaterian diversification appears to be approximately 100 million years more ancient than the Cambrian boundary.

@article{doi101073pnas0403984101,
    author = "Douzery, Emmanuel and Snell, Elizabeth A. and Bapteste, Éric and Delsuc, Frédéric and Philippe, Hervé",
    title = "The timing of eukaryotic evolution: Does a relaxed molecular clock reconcile proteins and fossils?",
    year = "2004",
    journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences",
    abstract = "The use of nucleotide and amino acid sequences allows improved understanding of the timing of evolutionary events of life on earth. Molecular estimates of divergence times are, however, controversial and are generally much more ancient than suggested by the fossil record. The limited number of genes and species explored and pervasive variations in evolutionary rates are the most likely sources of such discrepancies. Here we compared concatenated amino acid sequences of 129 proteins from 36 eukaryotes to determine the divergence times of several major clades, including animals, fungi, plants, and various protists. Due to significant variations in their evolutionary rates, and to handle the uncertainty of the fossil record, we used a Bayesian relaxed molecular clock simultaneously calibrated by six paleontological constraints. We show that, according to 95\% credibility intervals, the eukaryotic kingdoms diversified 950-1,259 million years ago (Mya), animals diverged from choanoflagellates 761-957 Mya, and the debated age of the split between protostomes and deuterostomes occurred 642-761 Mya. The divergence times appeared to be robust with respect to prior assumptions and paleontological calibrations. Interestingly, these relaxed clock time estimates are much more recent than those obtained under the assumption of a global molecular clock, yet bilaterian diversification appears to be approximately 100 million years more ancient than the Cambrian boundary.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0403984101",
    doi = "10.1073/pnas.0403984101",
    openalex = "W2059383371",
    references = "doi101016b9781483227344500176, doi10103835083562, doi10103844766, doi101038nrg1020, doi101093bioinformatics133235, doi101093molbevmsh075, doi101093oxfordjournalsmolbeva025731, doi101093oxfordjournalsmolbeva025892, doi101126science1061457, doi101126science1069651, doi101126science147365368, doi101126science28554301033, doi10182618200376494199401"
}

Ten phosphatized specimens of a small (<180 micrometers) animal displaying clear bilaterian features have been recovered from the Doushantuo Formation, China, dating from 40 to 55 million years before the Cambrian. Seen in sections, this animal (Vernanimalcula guizhouena gen. et sp. nov.) had paired coeloms extending the length of the gut; paired external pits that could be sense organs; bilateral, anterior-posterior organization; a ventrally directed anterior mouth with thick walled pharynx; and a triploblastic structure. The structural complexity is that of an adult rather than a larval form. These fossils provide the first evidence confirming the phylogenetic inference that Bilateria arose well before the Cambrian.

@article{doi101126science1099213,
    author = "Chen, Junyuan and Bottjer, David J. and Oliveri, Paola and Dornbos, Stephen Q. and Gao, Feng and Ruffins, Seth and Chi, Huimei and Li, Chia-Wei and Davidson, Eric H.",
    title = "Small Bilaterian Fossils from 40 to 55 Million Years Before the Cambrian",
    year = "2004",
    journal = "Science",
    abstract = "Ten phosphatized specimens of a small (<180 micrometers) animal displaying clear bilaterian features have been recovered from the Doushantuo Formation, China, dating from 40 to 55 million years before the Cambrian. Seen in sections, this animal (Vernanimalcula guizhouena gen. et sp. nov.) had paired coeloms extending the length of the gut; paired external pits that could be sense organs; bilateral, anterior-posterior organization; a ventrally directed anterior mouth with thick walled pharynx; and a triploblastic structure. The structural complexity is that of an adult rather than a larval form. These fossils provide the first evidence confirming the phylogenetic inference that Bilateria arose well before the Cambrian.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1099213",
    doi = "10.1126/science.1099213",
    openalex = "W2034574812"
}

Foreword.Preface.Part I: Geological And Evolutionary Setting of The Biota.1. Geological Time And The Evolution Of Early Life On Earth.2. The Evolutionary Significance Of The Chengjiang Biota.3. The Discovery And Initial Study Of The Chengjiang Lagerstatte.4. The Distribution And Geological Setting Of The Chengjiang Lagerstatte.5. The Taphonomy And Preservation Of The Chengjiang Fossils.6. The Paleoecology Of The Chengjiang Biota.Part II: Chengjiang Fossils.7. Algae.8. Phylum Porifera.9. Phylum Cnidaria.10. Phylum Ctenophora.11. Phylum Nematomorpha.12. Phylum Priapulida.13. Phylum Hyolitha.14. Phylum Lobopodia.15. Anomalocarididae (Phylum Uncertain).16. Phylum Arthropoda.17. Phylum Brachiopoda.18. Phylum? Vetulicolia.19. Phylum Chordata.20. Enigmatic Animals.21. Species Recorded From The Chengjiang Biota.References.Index

@article{doi105860choice416546,
    title = "The Cambrian fossils of Chengjiang, China: the flowering of early animal life",
    year = "2004",
    journal = "Choice Reviews Online",
    abstract = "Foreword.Preface.Part I: Geological And Evolutionary Setting of The Biota.1. Geological Time And The Evolution Of Early Life On Earth.2. The Evolutionary Significance Of The Chengjiang Biota.3. The Discovery And Initial Study Of The Chengjiang Lagerstatte.4. The Distribution And Geological Setting Of The Chengjiang Lagerstatte.5. The Taphonomy And Preservation Of The Chengjiang Fossils.6. The Paleoecology Of The Chengjiang Biota.Part II: Chengjiang Fossils.7. Algae.8. Phylum Porifera.9. Phylum Cnidaria.10. Phylum Ctenophora.11. Phylum Nematomorpha.12. Phylum Priapulida.13. Phylum Hyolitha.14. Phylum Lobopodia.15. Anomalocarididae (Phylum Uncertain).16. Phylum Arthropoda.17. Phylum Brachiopoda.18. Phylum? Vetulicolia.19. Phylum Chordata.20. Enigmatic Animals.21. Species Recorded From The Chengjiang Biota.References.Index",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.41-6546",
    doi = "10.5860/choice.41-6546",
    openalex = "W1529107977"
}

@article{doi101038nature04890,
    author = "Donoghue, Philip C. J. and Bengtson, Stefan and Dong, Xi-ping and Gostling, Neil J. and Huldtgren, Therese and Cunningham, John A. and Yin, Chongyu and Zhao, Yue and Peng, Fan and Stampanoni, Marco",
    title = "Synchrotron X-ray tomographic microscopy of fossil embryos",
    year = "2006",
    journal = "Nature",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04890",
    doi = "10.1038/nature04890",
    openalex = "W2099181563",
    references = "briggs2003the, doi101006dbio20020714, doi101016jgeobios200308001, doi101016jtoxlet200611011, doi10103835318, doi101073pnas250491697, doi101073pnas9794457, doi101111j150239311989tb01679x, doi101126science1099213, doi101126science27753321645, doi102517prpsj771"
}

This beautifully illustrated 2007 volume describes the entire flora and fauna of the famous Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil - one of the world's most important fossil deposits, exhibiting exceptional preservation. A wide range of invertebrates and vertebrates are covered, including extended sections on pterosaurs and insects. Two chapters are devoted to plants. Many of the chapters include descriptions of new species and re-descriptions and appraisals of taxa published in obscure places, rendering them available to a wider audience. Fossil descriptions are supported by detailed explanations of the geological history of the deposit and its tectonic setting. Drawing on expertise from around the world and specimens from the most important museum collections, this book forms an essential reference for researchers and enthusiasts with an interest in Mesozoic fossils

@book{doi101017cbo9780511535512,
    author = "Martill, David M. and Bechly, Günter and Loveridge, Robert F.",
    title = "The Crato Fossil Beds of Brazil: Window into an Ancient World",
    year = "2007",
    abstract = "This beautifully illustrated 2007 volume describes the entire flora and fauna of the famous Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil - one of the world's most important fossil deposits, exhibiting exceptional preservation. A wide range of invertebrates and vertebrates are covered, including extended sections on pterosaurs and insects. Two chapters are devoted to plants. Many of the chapters include descriptions of new species and re-descriptions and appraisals of taxa published in obscure places, rendering them available to a wider audience. Fossil descriptions are supported by detailed explanations of the geological history of the deposit and its tectonic setting. Drawing on expertise from around the world and specimens from the most important museum collections, this book forms an essential reference for researchers and enthusiasts with an interest in Mesozoic fossils",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511535512",
    doi = "10.1017/cbo9780511535512",
    openalex = "W1575411947",
    references = "doi101002mmng20010040112, doi1010079783642143977, doi1010160031018279901639, doi101016s0031018203006436, doi101017s0094837300012331, doi10103821872, doi101038292051a0, doi10103831635, doi101038nature01342, doi101038nature01420, doi101038nature02855, doi101038nature03150, doi101038nature03996, doi101046j1365202820010270ex, doi10108002724634199810011114, doi10108002724634199910011201, doi101098rspb20042692, doi101126science23547931156, doi101126science27953581915, doi1012060003009020062970001tatol20co2, doi1016660022336020040780989dapftc20co2, doi1018590euscorpius2003vol2003iss111, doi1023071466954, doi1023073223017, doi10560219780801847806, doi105860choice405235, doi105962bhltitle4275, hasiotis1995termite, openalexw1486025919, openalexw1725516486, openalexw1900040508, openalexw193970361, openalexw2242001249, openalexw2786463731"
}

Despite the enormous potential of analyses of ancient DNA for phylogeographic studies of past populations, the impact these analyses, most of which are performed with fossil samples from natural history museum collections, has been limited to some extent by the inefficient recovery of ancient genetic material. Here we show that the standard storage conditions and/or treatments of fossil bones in these collections can be detrimental to DNA survival. Using a quantitative paleogenetic analysis of 247 herbivore fossil bones up to 50,000 years old and originating from 60 different archeological and paleontological contexts, we demonstrate that freshly excavated and nontreated unwashed bones contain six times more DNA and yield twice as many authentic DNA sequences as bones treated with standard procedures. This effect was even more pronounced with bones from one Neolithic site, where only freshly excavated bones yielded results. Finally, we compared the DNA content in the fossil bones of one animal, a approximately 3,200-year-old aurochs, excavated in two separate seasons 57 years apart. Whereas the washed museum-stored fossil bones did not permit any DNA amplification, all recently excavated bones yielded authentic aurochs sequences. We established that during the 57 years when the aurochs bones were stored in a collection, at least as much amplifiable DNA was lost as during the previous 3,200 years of burial. This result calls for a revision of the postexcavation treatment of fossil bones to better preserve the genetic heritage of past life forms.

@article{doi101073pnas0610257104,
    author = "Pruvost, Mélanie and Schwarz, Reinhard and Correia, Virginia and Champlot, Sophie and Braguier, Séverine and Morel, Nicolás and Fernández–Jalvo, Yolanda and Grange, Thierry and Geigl, Eva-María",
    title = "Freshly excavated fossil bones are best for amplification of ancient DNA",
    year = "2007",
    journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences",
    abstract = "Despite the enormous potential of analyses of ancient DNA for phylogeographic studies of past populations, the impact these analyses, most of which are performed with fossil samples from natural history museum collections, has been limited to some extent by the inefficient recovery of ancient genetic material. Here we show that the standard storage conditions and/or treatments of fossil bones in these collections can be detrimental to DNA survival. Using a quantitative paleogenetic analysis of 247 herbivore fossil bones up to 50,000 years old and originating from 60 different archeological and paleontological contexts, we demonstrate that freshly excavated and nontreated unwashed bones contain six times more DNA and yield twice as many authentic DNA sequences as bones treated with standard procedures. This effect was even more pronounced with bones from one Neolithic site, where only freshly excavated bones yielded results. Finally, we compared the DNA content in the fossil bones of one animal, a approximately 3,200-year-old aurochs, excavated in two separate seasons 57 years apart. Whereas the washed museum-stored fossil bones did not permit any DNA amplification, all recently excavated bones yielded authentic aurochs sequences. We established that during the 57 years when the aurochs bones were stored in a collection, at least as much amplifiable DNA was lost as during the previous 3,200 years of burial. This result calls for a revision of the postexcavation treatment of fossil bones to better preserve the genetic heritage of past life forms.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0610257104",
    doi = "10.1073/pnas.0610257104",
    openalex = "W1968608712"
}

Abstract: Current models for the exceptional preservation of Burgess Shale fossils have focused on either the HF‐extractable carbonaceous compressions or the mineral films identified by elemental mapping. BSEM, EDX and microprobe analysis of two‐dimensionally preserved Marpolia, Wiwaxia and Burgessia identifies the presence of both carbonaceous and aluminosilicate films for most features, irrespective of original lability. In the light of the deep burial and greenschist facies metamorphism documented for the Burgess Shale, the aluminosilicate films are identified as products of late‐stage volatilization and coincident mineralization of pre‐existing compression fossils, whereas the three‐dimensionally preserved gut‐caecal system of Burgessia is interpreted as an aluminosilicate replacement of a pre‐existing carbonate phase. The case for late diagenetic emplacement of aluminosilicate minerals is supported by the extensive aluminosilicification of trilobite shell and (originally) calcareous veinlets in the Burgess Shale, as well as documentation of other secondarily aluminosilicified compression fossils. By distinguishing late diagenetic alteration from the early diagenetic processes responsible for exceptional preservation, it is possible to reconcile the range of preservational modes currently expressed in the Burgess Shale.

@article{doi101111j14754983200700656x,
    author = "Butterfield, Nicholas J. and Balthasar, Uwe and WILSON, LUCY A.",
    title = "FOSSIL DIAGENESIS IN THE BURGESS SHALE",
    year = "2007",
    journal = "Palaeontology",
    abstract = "Abstract: Current models for the exceptional preservation of Burgess Shale fossils have focused on either the HF‐extractable carbonaceous compressions or the mineral films identified by elemental mapping. BSEM, EDX and microprobe analysis of two‐dimensionally preserved Marpolia, Wiwaxia and Burgessia identifies the presence of both carbonaceous and aluminosilicate films for most features, irrespective of original lability. In the light of the deep burial and greenschist facies metamorphism documented for the Burgess Shale, the aluminosilicate films are identified as products of late‐stage volatilization and coincident mineralization of pre‐existing compression fossils, whereas the three‐dimensionally preserved gut‐caecal system of Burgessia is interpreted as an aluminosilicate replacement of a pre‐existing carbonate phase. The case for late diagenetic emplacement of aluminosilicate minerals is supported by the extensive aluminosilicification of trilobite shell and (originally) calcareous veinlets in the Burgess Shale, as well as documentation of other secondarily aluminosilicified compression fossils. By distinguishing late diagenetic alteration from the early diagenetic processes responsible for exceptional preservation, it is possible to reconcile the range of preservational modes currently expressed in the Burgess Shale.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4983.2007.00656.x",
    doi = "10.1111/j.1475-4983.2007.00656.x",
    openalex = "W2035625131",
    references = "briggs1994decay, doi1010079783642878138, doi101016jpalaeo200407034, doi101017s0094837300009994, doi101093icb431166, doi101111j150239311995tb01587x, doi101126science28153801173, doi101130g206401, doi1016660094837320020280155lgatio20co2, doi105281zenodo15992748, doi105860choice284524, openalexw3127114020"
}

Finite element analysis (FEA) is a technique that reconstructs stress, strain, and deformation in a digital structure. Although commonplace in engineering and orthopedic science for more than 30 years, only recently has it begun to be adopted in the zoological and paleontological sciences to address questions of organismal morphology, function, and evolution. Current research tends to focus on either deductive studies that assume a close relationship between form and function or inductive studies that aim to test this relationship, although explicit hypothesis-testing bridges these two standpoints. Validation studies have shown congruence between in vivo or in vitro strain and FE-inferred strain. Future validation work on a broad range of taxa will assist in phylogenetically bracketing our extinct animal FE-models to increase confidence in our input parameters, although currently, FEA has much potential in addressing questions of form-function relationships, providing appropriate questions are asked of the existing data.

@article{doi101146annurevearth35031306140104,
    author = "Rayfield, Emily J.",
    title = "Finite Element Analysis and Understanding the Biomechanics and Evolution of Living and Fossil Organisms",
    year = "2007",
    journal = "Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences",
    abstract = "Finite element analysis (FEA) is a technique that reconstructs stress, strain, and deformation in a digital structure. Although commonplace in engineering and orthopedic science for more than 30 years, only recently has it begun to be adopted in the zoological and paleontological sciences to address questions of organismal morphology, function, and evolution. Current research tends to focus on either deductive studies that assume a close relationship between form and function or inductive studies that aim to test this relationship, although explicit hypothesis-testing bridges these two standpoints. Validation studies have shown congruence between in vivo or in vitro strain and FE-inferred strain. Future validation work on a broad range of taxa will assist in phylogenetically bracketing our extinct animal FE-models to increase confidence in our input parameters, although currently, FEA has much potential in addressing questions of form-function relationships, providing appropriate questions are asked of the existing data.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.earth.35.031306.140104",
    doi = "10.1146/annurev.earth.35.031306.140104",
    openalex = "W2138656347",
    references = "doi10103835059070, doi101038nature04890, doi105860choice326223"
}

Unravelling the timing of the metazoan radiation is crucial for elucidating the macroevolutionary processes associated with the Cambrian explosion. Because estimates of metazoan divergence times derived from molecular clocks range from quite shallow (Ediacaran) to very deep (Mesoproterozoic), it has been difficult to ascertain whether there is concordance or quite dramatic discordance between the genetic and geological fossil records. Here, we show using a range of molecular clock methods that the major pulse of metazoan divergence times was during the Ediacaran, which is consistent with a synoptic reading of the Ediacaran macrobiota. These estimates are robust to changes in priors, and are returned with or without the inclusion of a palaeontologically derived maximal calibration point. Therefore, the two historical records of life both suggest that although the cradle of Metazoa lies in the Cryogenian, and despite the explosion of ecology that occurs in the Cambrian, it is the emergence of bilaterian taxa in the Ediacaran that sets the tempo and mode of macroevolution for the remainder of geological time.

@article{doi101098rstb20072233,
    author = "Peterson, Kevin J. and Cotton, James A. and Gehlîng, James G. and Pisani, Davide",
    title = "The Ediacaran emergence of bilaterians: congruence between the genetic and the geological fossil records",
    year = "2008",
    journal = "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences",
    abstract = "Unravelling the timing of the metazoan radiation is crucial for elucidating the macroevolutionary processes associated with the Cambrian explosion. Because estimates of metazoan divergence times derived from molecular clocks range from quite shallow (Ediacaran) to very deep (Mesoproterozoic), it has been difficult to ascertain whether there is concordance or quite dramatic discordance between the genetic and geological fossil records. Here, we show using a range of molecular clock methods that the major pulse of metazoan divergence times was during the Ediacaran, which is consistent with a synoptic reading of the Ediacaran macrobiota. These estimates are robust to changes in priors, and are returned with or without the inclusion of a palaeontologically derived maximal calibration point. Therefore, the two historical records of life both suggest that although the cradle of Metazoa lies in the Cryogenian, and despite the explosion of ecology that occurs in the Cambrian, it is the emergence of bilaterian taxa in the Ediacaran that sets the tempo and mode of macroevolution for the remainder of geological time.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2007.2233",
    doi = "10.1098/rstb.2007.2233",
    openalex = "W2102985891",
    references = "doi10108000241160500409223, doi101093molbevmsi225, doi101098rspb20063761, doi101098rstb20061846, doi101111j14754983200700692x, doi1023073515363"
}

Death assemblages from contemporary marginal marine settings carved into ancient shell deposits are composed of fossil shells exhumed by currents or tides and shells derived from living populations. A better understanding of the bias produced by such a mixing process is of interest for studies that use modern death assemblages as analogues of similar past habitats. In order to evaluate the magnitude of reworking and redeposition of fossil shells in modern environments, a taxonomic (composition, abundance, and richness) and taphonomic (taphofacies) study was carried out in the Mar Chiquita coastal lagoon, Argentina (37°40′S, 57°20′W). The nature and extent of reworking was explored along a gradient in tidal energy from the outer to the inner reaches of the coastal lagoon. Results indicate that modern death assemblages in the lagoon are composed mostly of fossil (late Holocene) reworked shells and that reworking varies along a gradient in tidal energy, being higher in the outer reaches of the coastal lagoon, where tidal action is more significant. Temporal mixing in the coastal lagoon appears to be associated with condensation (remanié) rather than with a subtle mixing of shells, as occurs in time-averaged deposits. This reworking process leads to an abundance of old shells in modern death assemblages, which has negative consequences for their utilization as modern analogues of past lagoons. Multidisciplinary studies involving various biological indicators need to take this type of bias into consideration in order to avoid erroneous inferences on the Quaternary evolution of coastal lagoons.

@article{doi102110palo2006p06124r,
    author = "Francesco, Claudio G. De and Hassan, Gabriela S.",
    title = "DOMINANCE OF REWORKED FOSSIL SHELLS IN MODERN ESTUARINE ENVIRONMENTS: IMPLICATIONS FOR PALEOENVIRONMENTAL RECONSTRUCTIONS BASED ON BIOLOGICAL REMAINS",
    year = "2008",
    journal = "Palaios",
    abstract = "Death assemblages from contemporary marginal marine settings carved into ancient shell deposits are composed of fossil shells exhumed by currents or tides and shells derived from living populations. A better understanding of the bias produced by such a mixing process is of interest for studies that use modern death assemblages as analogues of similar past habitats. In order to evaluate the magnitude of reworking and redeposition of fossil shells in modern environments, a taxonomic (composition, abundance, and richness) and taphonomic (taphofacies) study was carried out in the Mar Chiquita coastal lagoon, Argentina (37°40′S, 57°20′W). The nature and extent of reworking was explored along a gradient in tidal energy from the outer to the inner reaches of the coastal lagoon. Results indicate that modern death assemblages in the lagoon are composed mostly of fossil (late Holocene) reworked shells and that reworking varies along a gradient in tidal energy, being higher in the outer reaches of the coastal lagoon, where tidal action is more significant. Temporal mixing in the coastal lagoon appears to be associated with condensation (remanié) rather than with a subtle mixing of shells, as occurs in time-averaged deposits. This reworking process leads to an abundance of old shells in modern death assemblages, which has negative consequences for their utilization as modern analogues of past lagoons. Multidisciplinary studies involving various biological indicators need to take this type of bias into consideration in order to avoid erroneous inferences on the Quaternary evolution of coastal lagoons.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.2110/palo.2006.p06-124r",
    doi = "10.2110/palo.2006.p06-124r",
    openalex = "W2145345219",
    references = "doi101016001669959180043y, doi101016s001282520300014x"
}

@article{doi101038nature07673,
    author = "Love, Gordon D. and Grosjean, Emmanuelle and Stalvies, Charlotte and Fike, David A. and Grotzinger, J. P. and Bradley, Alexander S. and Kelly, Amy E. and Bhatia, Maya P. and Meredith, William and Snape, Colin E. and Bowring, Samuel A. and Condon, Daniel J. and Summons, Roger E.",
    title = "Fossil steroids record the appearance of Demospongiae during the Cryogenian period",
    year = "2009",
    journal = "Nature",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07673",
    doi = "10.1038/nature07673",
    openalex = "W2016049452",
    references = "doi1010160146638086900896, doi101016s0301926899000728, doi10103835318, doi101038nature05345, doi101038nature05682, doi101073pnas0708336105, doi101126science1107765, doi1011300091761320030310431eocana20co2, doi101130b256301, doi10247510200701"
}

This study concerns the formation, taphonomy, and preservation of human footprints in microbial mats of present-day tidal-flat environments. Due to differences in water content and nature of the microbial mats and the underlying sediment, a wide range of footprint morphologies was produced by the same trackmaker. Most true tracks are subjected to modification due to taphonomic processes, leading to modified true tracks. In addition to formation of biolaminites, microbial mats play a major role in the preservation of footprints on tidal flats. A footprint may be consolidated by desiccation or lithification of the mat, or by ongoing growth of the mat. The latter process may lead to the formation of overtracks. Among consolidated or (partially) lithified footprints found on present-day tidal flats, poorly defined true tracks, modified true tracks, and overtracks were most frequently encountered while unmodified and well-defined true tracks are rather rare. We suggest that modified true tracks and overtracks make up an important percentage of fossil footprints and that they may be as common as undertracks. However, making unambiguous distinctions between poorly defined true tracks, modified true tracks, undertracks, and overtracks in the fossil record will remain a difficult task, which necessitates systematic excavation of footprints combined with careful analysis of the encasing sediment.

@article{doi10108010420940802471027,
    author = "Marty, Daniel and Strasser, André and Meyer, Christian A.",
    title = "Formation and Taphonomy of Human Footprints in Microbial Mats of Present-Day Tidal-flat Environments: Implications for the Study of Fossil Footprints",
    year = "2009",
    journal = "Ichnos/Ichnos : an international journal for plant and animal traces",
    abstract = "This study concerns the formation, taphonomy, and preservation of human footprints in microbial mats of present-day tidal-flat environments. Due to differences in water content and nature of the microbial mats and the underlying sediment, a wide range of footprint morphologies was produced by the same trackmaker. Most true tracks are subjected to modification due to taphonomic processes, leading to modified true tracks. In addition to formation of biolaminites, microbial mats play a major role in the preservation of footprints on tidal flats. A footprint may be consolidated by desiccation or lithification of the mat, or by ongoing growth of the mat. The latter process may lead to the formation of overtracks. Among consolidated or (partially) lithified footprints found on present-day tidal flats, poorly defined true tracks, modified true tracks, and overtracks were most frequently encountered while unmodified and well-defined true tracks are rather rare. We suggest that modified true tracks and overtracks make up an important percentage of fossil footprints and that they may be as common as undertracks. However, making unambiguous distinctions between poorly defined true tracks, modified true tracks, undertracks, and overtracks in the fossil record will remain a difficult task, which necessitates systematic excavation of footprints combined with careful analysis of the encasing sediment.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1080/10420940802471027",
    doi = "10.1080/10420940802471027",
    openalex = "W2103008101",
    references = "doi1010079789400904095, doi101016jtim200507008, doi10103820167, doi101046j13653091200000284x, doi101111j13653091200400649x, doi101144gslsp20042280106, doi1023073514674, doi1023073514964, doi1023073514973, doi105860choice273305, doi105860choice295709, doi105860choice332752, doi105860choice393984, doi107312lock90868, openalexw114509570, openalexw39955589, openalexw603337959"
}

@article{doi101038nature08745,
    author = "Sansom, Robert S. and Gabbott, Sarah E. and Purnell, Mark A.",
    title = "Non-random decay of chordate characters causes bias in fossil interpretation",
    year = "2010",
    journal = "Nature",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08745",
    doi = "10.1038/nature08745",
    openalex = "W1980460712",
    references = "briggs2003the, doi101016jtree200504008, doi101016s0016703799000873, doi101017s0094837300009994, doi101038nature04336, doi101093icb431166, doi1010970000044619570500000033, doi101098rstb20072246, doi101111j146364091997tb00412x, doi101130g24961a1, doi101666061301"
}

@article{doi101038ngeo934,
    author = "Maloof, Adam C. and Rose, Catherine and Beach, Robert and Samuels, Bradley M. and Calmet, Claire and Erwin, Douglas H. and Poirier, Gerald and Yao, Nan and Simons, Frederik J.",
    title = "Possible animal-body fossils in pre-Marinoan limestones from South Australia",
    year = "2010",
    journal = "Nature Geoscience",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo934",
    doi = "10.1038/ngeo934",
    openalex = "W2105844326",
    references = "briggs2003the, doi10103835318, doi101038nature07673, doi101046j13653091200000003x, doi101126science1107765, doi101128jb17320655865671991, doi101130b256301, doi101130g205191, openalexw2183707334, openalexw2912219260"
}

This paper, Ediacaran Macro Body Fossils, reports a new discovery of well preserved three dimensional macro body fossils of the Ediacaran Period in central YunNan province in the People's Republic of China. These body fossils will enable more detailed and in-depth exploration of the evolution of multi-cellular macro organisms on this planet, whereas in the past, researches could only rely on cast or imprint fossils.

@article{huang2010ediacaran,
    author = "Huang, Timothy and Shaw, Jei-Fu and Zheng, Liang and Huang, Chun-Lan and Chang, YiLung and Yang, ChuanWei",
    title = "Ediacaran Macro Body Fossils",
    year = "2010",
    journal = "Nature Precedings",
    abstract = "This paper, Ediacaran Macro Body Fossils, reports a new discovery of well preserved three dimensional macro body fossils of the Ediacaran Period in central YunNan province in the People's Republic of China. These body fossils will enable more detailed and in-depth exploration of the evolution of multi-cellular macro organisms on this planet, whereas in the past, researches could only rely on cast or imprint fossils.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/npre.2010.4423.1",
    doi = "10.1038/npre.2010.4423.1",
    openalex = "W1858398317"
}

Our ability to correlate biological evolution with climate change, geological evolution, and other historical patterns is essential to understanding the processes that shape biodiversity. Combining data from the fossil record with molecular phylogenetics represents an exciting synthetic approach to this challenge. The first molecular divergence dating analysis (Zuckerkandl and Pauling 1962) was based on a measure of the amino acid differences in the hemoglobin molecule, with replacement rates established (calibrated) using paleontological age estimates from textbooks (e.g., Dodson 1960). Since that time, the amount of molecular sequence data has increased dramatically, affording ever-greater opportunities to apply molecular divergence approaches to fundamental problems in evolutionary biology.

@article{doi101093sysbiosyr107,
    author = "Parham, James F. and Donoghue, Philip C. J. and Bell, Christopher J. and Calway, Tyler and Head, Jason J. and Holroyd, Patricia A. and Inoue, Jun and Irmis, Randall B. and Joyce, Walter G. and Ksepka, Daniel T. and Patané, José Salvatore Leister and Smith, Nathan D. and Tarver, James E. and van Tuinen, Marcel and Yang, Ziheng and Angielczyk, Kenneth D. and Greenwood, Jenny M. and Hipsley, Christy A. and Jacobs, Louis L. and Makovicky, Peter J. and Müller, Johannes and Smith, Krister T. and Theodor, Jessica M. and Warnock, Rachel C. M. and Benton, Michael J.",
    title = "Best Practices for Justifying Fossil Calibrations",
    year = "2011",
    journal = "Systematic Biology",
    abstract = "Our ability to correlate biological evolution with climate change, geological evolution, and other historical patterns is essential to understanding the processes that shape biodiversity. Combining data from the fossil record with molecular phylogenetics represents an exciting synthetic approach to this challenge. The first molecular divergence dating analysis (Zuckerkandl and Pauling 1962) was based on a measure of the amino acid differences in the hemoglobin molecule, with replacement rates established (calibrated) using paleontological age estimates from textbooks (e.g., Dodson 1960). Since that time, the amount of molecular sequence data has increased dramatically, affording ever-greater opportunities to apply molecular divergence approaches to fundamental problems in evolutionary biology.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syr107",
    doi = "10.1093/sysbio/syr107",
    openalex = "W2113525598",
    references = "doi101016jepsl200909013, doi101016jgca201006017, doi101016jtig200403007, doi101017cbo9780511536045, doi101038nature08745, doi101093molbevmsj024, doi101093molbevmsl150, doi101093oxfordjournalsmolbeva025892, doi101093sysbio3817, doi101111j00310239200300301x, doi101111j14698137201103794x, doi101126science1101012, doi101126science13334591105, doi1012060003009020073021taoeoa20co2, doi101371journalpbio0040088, doi101371journalpone0009329, doi1023072992432, doi104095215638, openalexw1535663436, openalexw2989049194, openalexw592572837"
}

In this catalog, we attempt to assemble all fossil records of Lepidoptera described formally or informally in the worldliterature. A total of 667 records dealing with at least 4,568 specimens have been compiled. They include descriptions of131 fossil genera and 229 fossil species, as well as 72 extant genera and 21 extant species to which some of these fossilssupposedly belong or show superficial similarity. Replacement names of two fossil genera are proposed to avoidhomonymy: Baltopsyche Sohn, gen. nov. for Palaeopsyche Sobczyk and Kobbert, 2009 and Netoxena Sohn, gen. nov. forXena Martins-Neto, 1999. New generic combinations are proposed for: Tortrix? destructus Cockerell, 1916, Tortrixflorissantanus Cockerell, 1907, and Tortrix sp. sensu Gravenhorst (1835), all three to Tortricites Kozlov, 1988;Pterophorus oligocenicus Bigot, Nel and Nel, 1986, to Merrifieldia Tutt, 1905; Aporia sp. sensu Branscheid (1969) toPierites Heer, 1849; Noctua spp. sensu Hope (1836) and Lomnicki (1894), both to Noctuites Heer, 1849. Eleven namesimproperly proposed for lepidopteran fossils are invalidated: Baltonides roeselliformis Skalski in Kosmowska-Ceranowicz and Popiolek, 1981; Baltodines Kupryjanowicz, 2001; Barbarothea Scudder, 1890; Lepidopterites Piton,1936; Palaeozygaena Reiss, 1936; Psamateia calipsa Martins-Neto, 2002; Saxibatinca meyi Skalski in Kristensen andSkalski, 1998; Spatalistiforma submerga Skalski, 1976; Thanatites juvenalis Scudder, 1875; Tortricibaltia diakonoffiSkalski, 1976; and Zygaenites Reiss, 1936. An unnecessary subsequent type designation for Pierites Heer, 1849, isdiscussed. A total of 129 records include lepidopteran fossils which cannot be placed in any taxonomic rank. There alsoexist at least 25 fossil records which lack any evidence of the supposed lepidopteran association. Misidentified specimens,including 18 fossil genera, 29 fossil species and 12 unnamed fossils, are excluded from Lepidoptera. All the knownlepidopteran fossils are annotated by fossil type, specimen deposition, excavation locality, association with plants when present, and geological age. A bibliographic list of lepidopteran fossils is provided.

@article{doi1011646zootaxa328611,
    author = "Sohn, Jae‐Cheon and Labandeira, Conrad C. and Davis, Donald S. and Mitter, Charles",
    title = "An annotated catalog of fossil and subfossil Lepidoptera (Insecta: Holometabola) of the world",
    year = "2012",
    journal = "Zootaxa",
    abstract = "In this catalog, we attempt to assemble all fossil records of Lepidoptera described formally or informally in the worldliterature. A total of 667 records dealing with at least 4,568 specimens have been compiled. They include descriptions of131 fossil genera and 229 fossil species, as well as 72 extant genera and 21 extant species to which some of these fossilssupposedly belong or show superficial similarity. Replacement names of two fossil genera are proposed to avoidhomonymy: Baltopsyche Sohn, gen. nov. for Palaeopsyche Sobczyk and Kobbert, 2009 and Netoxena Sohn, gen. nov. forXena Martins-Neto, 1999. New generic combinations are proposed for: Tortrix? destructus Cockerell, 1916, Tortrixflorissantanus Cockerell, 1907, and Tortrix sp. sensu Gravenhorst (1835), all three to Tortricites Kozlov, 1988;Pterophorus oligocenicus Bigot, Nel and Nel, 1986, to Merrifieldia Tutt, 1905; Aporia sp. sensu Branscheid (1969) toPierites Heer, 1849; Noctua spp. sensu Hope (1836) and Lomnicki (1894), both to Noctuites Heer, 1849. Eleven namesimproperly proposed for lepidopteran fossils are invalidated: Baltonides roeselliformis Skalski in Kosmowska-Ceranowicz and Popiolek, 1981; Baltodines Kupryjanowicz, 2001; Barbarothea Scudder, 1890; Lepidopterites Piton,1936; Palaeozygaena Reiss, 1936; Psamateia calipsa Martins-Neto, 2002; Saxibatinca meyi Skalski in Kristensen andSkalski, 1998; Spatalistiforma submerga Skalski, 1976; Thanatites juvenalis Scudder, 1875; Tortricibaltia diakonoffiSkalski, 1976; and Zygaenites Reiss, 1936. An unnecessary subsequent type designation for Pierites Heer, 1849, isdiscussed. A total of 129 records include lepidopteran fossils which cannot be placed in any taxonomic rank. There alsoexist at least 25 fossil records which lack any evidence of the supposed lepidopteran association. Misidentified specimens,including 18 fossil genera, 29 fossil species and 12 unnamed fossils, are excluded from Lepidoptera. All the knownlepidopteran fossils are annotated by fossil type, specimen deposition, excavation locality, association with plants when present, and geological age. A bibliographic list of lepidopteran fossils is provided.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3286.1.1",
    doi = "10.11646/zootaxa.3286.1.1",
    openalex = "W2131352892",
    references = "doi101016s0031018203006436, doi101071zo9550654, doi103133b71, openalexw3168794770"
}

@incollection{schmierer2013anoxia,
    author = "Schmierer, Bernhard",
    title = "Anoxia",
    year = "2013",
    booktitle = "Encyclopedia of Systems Biology",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9863-7\_772",
    doi = "10.1007/978-1-4419-9863-7\_772",
    pages = "29-29"
}

@article{doi101016jpalaeo201410013,
    author = "Muscente, A.D. and Hawkins, Andrew D. and Xiao, Shuhai",
    title = "Fossil preservation through phosphatization and silicification in the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation (South China): a comparative synthesis",
    year = "2014",
    journal = "Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2014.10.013",
    doi = "10.1016/j.palaeo.2014.10.013",
    openalex = "W2040544606",
    references = "briggs1996the, doi101098rstb19850139, doi10166613009, doi102517prpsj771"
}

The phylum Ascomycota is by far the largest group in the fungal kingdom. Ecologically important mutualistic associations such as mycorrhizae and lichens have evolved in this group, which are regarded as key innovations that supported the evolution of land plants. Only a few attempts have been made to date the origin of Ascomycota lineages by using molecular clock methods, which is primarily due to the lack of satisfactory fossil calibration data. For this reason we have evaluated all of the oldest available ascomycete fossils from amber (Albian to Miocene) and chert (Devonian and Maastrichtian). The fossils represent five major ascomycete classes (Coniocybomycetes, Dothideomycetes, Eurotiomycetes, Laboulbeniomycetes, and Lecanoromycetes). We have assembled a multi-gene data set (18SrDNA, 28SrDNA, RPB1 and RPB2) from a total of 145 taxa representing most groups of the Ascomycota and utilized fossil calibration points solely from within the ascomycetes to estimate divergence times of Ascomycota lineages with a Bayesian approach. Our results suggest an initial diversification of the Pezizomycotina in the Ordovician, followed by repeated splits of lineages throughout the Phanerozoic, and indicate that this continuous diversification was unaffected by mass extinctions. We suggest that the ecological diversity within each lineage ensured that at least some taxa of each group were able to survive global crises and rapidly recovered.

@article{doi101016jympev201404024,
    author = "Beimforde, Christina and Feldberg, Kathrin and Nylinder, Stephan and Rikkinen, Jouko and Tuovila, Hanna and Dörfelt, Heinrich and Gube, Matthias and Jackson, Daniel J. and Reitner, Joachim and Seyfullah, Leyla J. and Schmidt, Alexander R.",
    title = "Estimating the Phanerozoic history of the Ascomycota lineages: Combining fossil and molecular data",
    year = "2014",
    journal = "Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution",
    abstract = "The phylum Ascomycota is by far the largest group in the fungal kingdom. Ecologically important mutualistic associations such as mycorrhizae and lichens have evolved in this group, which are regarded as key innovations that supported the evolution of land plants. Only a few attempts have been made to date the origin of Ascomycota lineages by using molecular clock methods, which is primarily due to the lack of satisfactory fossil calibration data. For this reason we have evaluated all of the oldest available ascomycete fossils from amber (Albian to Miocene) and chert (Devonian and Maastrichtian). The fossils represent five major ascomycete classes (Coniocybomycetes, Dothideomycetes, Eurotiomycetes, Laboulbeniomycetes, and Lecanoromycetes). We have assembled a multi-gene data set (18SrDNA, 28SrDNA, RPB1 and RPB2) from a total of 145 taxa representing most groups of the Ascomycota and utilized fossil calibration points solely from within the ascomycetes to estimate divergence times of Ascomycota lineages with a Bayesian approach. Our results suggest an initial diversification of the Pezizomycotina in the Ordovician, followed by repeated splits of lineages throughout the Phanerozoic, and indicate that this continuous diversification was unaffected by mass extinctions. We suggest that the ecological diversity within each lineage ensured that at least some taxa of each group were able to survive global crises and rapidly recovered.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2014.04.024",
    doi = "10.1016/j.ympev.2014.04.024",
    openalex = "W2076419712",
    references = "doi101016s0031018203006436, doi101144sp3396"
}

@article{doi101038ncomms6754,
    author = "Schiffbauer, James D. and Xiao, Shuhai and Cai, Yaoping and Wallace, Adam F. and Hua, Hong and Hunter, Jerry and Xu, Huifang and Peng, Yongbo and Kaufman, Alan J.",
    title = "A unifying model for Neoproterozoic–Palaeozoic exceptional fossil preservation through pyritization and carbonaceous compression",
    year = "2014",
    journal = "Nature Communications",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6754",
    doi = "10.1038/ncomms6754",
    openalex = "W2090998939",
    references = "doi101016jpalaeo201202009, doi101038nature09038, doi101073pnas1111784109, doi101130g206401, doi101130g24961a1, doi101130g319691"
}

Twenty candidate fossils with claim to be the oldest representative of the Phylum Porifera have been re-analysed. Three criteria are used to assess each candidate: (i) the diagnostic criteria needed to categorize sponges in the fossil record; (ii) the presence, or absence, of such diagnostic features in the putative poriferan fossils; and (iii) the age constraints for the candidate fossils. All three criteria are critical to the correct interpretation of any fossil and its placement within an evolutionary context. Our analysis shows that no Precambrian fossil candidate yet satisfies all three of these criteria to be a reliable sponge fossil. The oldest widely accepted candidate, Mongolian silica hexacts from c. 545 million years ago (Ma), are here shown to be cruciform arsenopyrite crystals. The oldest reliable sponge remains are siliceous spicules from the basal Cambrian (Protohertzina anabarica Zone) Soltanieh Formation, Iran, which are described and analysed here in detail for the first time. Extensive archaeocyathan sponge reefs emerge and radiate as late as the middle of the Fortunian Stage of the Cambrian and demonstrate a gradual assembly of their skeletal structure through this time coincident with the evolution of other metazoan groups. Since the Porifera are basal in the Metazoa, their presence within the late Proterozoic has been widely anticipated. Molecular clock calibration for the earliest Porifera and Metazoa should now be based on the Iranian hexactinellid material dated to c. 535 Ma. The earliest convincing fossil sponge remains appeared at around the time of the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary, associated with the great radiation events of that interval.

@article{doi101111brv12090,
    author = "Antcliffe, Jonathan B. and Callow, Richard H. T. and Brasier, Martin D.",
    title = "Giving the early fossil record of sponges a squeeze",
    year = "2014",
    journal = "Biological reviews/Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society",
    abstract = "Twenty candidate fossils with claim to be the oldest representative of the Phylum Porifera have been re-analysed. Three criteria are used to assess each candidate: (i) the diagnostic criteria needed to categorize sponges in the fossil record; (ii) the presence, or absence, of such diagnostic features in the putative poriferan fossils; and (iii) the age constraints for the candidate fossils. All three criteria are critical to the correct interpretation of any fossil and its placement within an evolutionary context. Our analysis shows that no Precambrian fossil candidate yet satisfies all three of these criteria to be a reliable sponge fossil. The oldest widely accepted candidate, Mongolian silica hexacts from c. 545 million years ago (Ma), are here shown to be cruciform arsenopyrite crystals. The oldest reliable sponge remains are siliceous spicules from the basal Cambrian (Protohertzina anabarica Zone) Soltanieh Formation, Iran, which are described and analysed here in detail for the first time. Extensive archaeocyathan sponge reefs emerge and radiate as late as the middle of the Fortunian Stage of the Cambrian and demonstrate a gradual assembly of their skeletal structure through this time coincident with the evolution of other metazoan groups. Since the Porifera are basal in the Metazoa, their presence within the late Proterozoic has been widely anticipated. Molecular clock calibration for the earliest Porifera and Metazoa should now be based on the Iranian hexactinellid material dated to c. 535 Ma. The earliest convincing fossil sponge remains appeared at around the time of the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary, associated with the great radiation events of that interval.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12090",
    doi = "10.1111/brv.12090",
    openalex = "W2130095841",
    references = "brasier1987microfossils, doi10100797814615074751, doi10100797814899242787, doi101016003192018990263x, doi101016jcub200902052, doi101016jearscirev201303008, doi101016jpalaeo200401022, doi101017s0016756811000720, doi101038416076a, doi101038nature07673, doi101038nature08745, doi101038nature09166, doi10109900207713522297, doi101111j1469185x1999tb00046x, doi101111j14724669201000246x, doi101126science1107765, doi101126science1169514, doi101126science1206375, doi101130b256301, doi101371journalpbio1000602, tiwari1999organicwalled"
}

New analytical approaches and discoveries are demanding fresh thinking about the early fossil record. The 1.88-Ga Gunflint chert provides an important benchmark for the analysis of early fossil preservation. High-resolution analysis of Gunflintia shows that microtaphonomy can help to resolve long-standing paleobiological questions. Novel 3D nanoscale reconstructions of the most ancient complex fossil Eosphaera reveal features hitherto unmatched in any crown-group microbe. While Eosphaera may preserve a symbiotic consortium, a stronger conclusion is that multicellular morphospace was differently occupied in the Paleoproterozoic. The 3.46-Ga Apex chert provides a test bed for claims of biogenicity of cell-like structures. Mapping plus focused ion beam milling combined with transmission electron microscopy data demonstrate that microfossil-like taxa, including species of Archaeoscillatoriopsis and Primaevifilum, are pseudofossils formed from vermiform phyllosilicate grains during hydrothermal alteration events. The 3.43-Ga Strelley Pool Formation shows that plausible early fossil candidates are turning up in unexpected environmental settings. Our data reveal how cellular clusters of unexpectedly large coccoids and tubular sheath-like envelopes were trapped between sand grains and entombed within coatings of dripstone beach-rock silica cement. These fossils come from Earth's earliest known intertidal to supratidal shoreline deposit, accumulated under aerated but oxygen poor conditions.

@article{doi101073pnas1405338111,
    author = "Brasier, Martin D. and Antcliffe, Jonathan B. and Saunders, Martin and Wacey, David",
    title = "Changing the picture of Earth's earliest fossils (3.5–1.9 Ga) with new approaches and new discoveries",
    year = "2015",
    journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences",
    abstract = "New analytical approaches and discoveries are demanding fresh thinking about the early fossil record. The 1.88-Ga Gunflint chert provides an important benchmark for the analysis of early fossil preservation. High-resolution analysis of Gunflintia shows that microtaphonomy can help to resolve long-standing paleobiological questions. Novel 3D nanoscale reconstructions of the most ancient complex fossil Eosphaera reveal features hitherto unmatched in any crown-group microbe. While Eosphaera may preserve a symbiotic consortium, a stronger conclusion is that multicellular morphospace was differently occupied in the Paleoproterozoic. The 3.46-Ga Apex chert provides a test bed for claims of biogenicity of cell-like structures. Mapping plus focused ion beam milling combined with transmission electron microscopy data demonstrate that microfossil-like taxa, including species of Archaeoscillatoriopsis and Primaevifilum, are pseudofossils formed from vermiform phyllosilicate grains during hydrothermal alteration events. The 3.43-Ga Strelley Pool Formation shows that plausible early fossil candidates are turning up in unexpected environmental settings. Our data reveal how cellular clusters of unexpectedly large coccoids and tubular sheath-like envelopes were trapped between sand grains and entombed within coatings of dripstone beach-rock silica cement. These fossils come from Earth's earliest known intertidal to supratidal shoreline deposit, accumulated under aerated but oxygen poor conditions.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1405338111",
    doi = "10.1073/pnas.1405338111",
    openalex = "W2075006569",
    references = "doi101038nature08745"
}

The discovery of the Fezouata biota in the latest Tremadocian of southeastern Morocco has significantly changed our understanding of the early Phanerozoic radiation. The shelly fossil record shows a well-recognized pattern of macroevolutionary stasis between the Cambrian Explosion and the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, but the rich soft-bodied Fezouata biota paints a different evolutionary picture. The Fezouata assemblage includes a considerable component of Cambrian holdovers alongside a surprising number of crown group taxa previously unknown to have evolved by the Early Ordovician. Study of the Fezouata biota is in its early stages, and future discoveries will continue to enrich our view of the dynamics of the early Phanerozoic radiation and of the nature of the fossil record. Supplementary material: A complete faunal list is available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18843.

@article{doi101144jgs2015017,
    author = "Roy, Peter Van and Briggs, Derek E. G. and Gaines, Robert R.",
    title = "The Fezouata fossils of Morocco; an extraordinary record of marine life in the Early Ordovician",
    year = "2015",
    journal = "Journal of the Geological Society",
    abstract = "The discovery of the Fezouata biota in the latest Tremadocian of southeastern Morocco has significantly changed our understanding of the early Phanerozoic radiation. The shelly fossil record shows a well-recognized pattern of macroevolutionary stasis between the Cambrian Explosion and the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, but the rich soft-bodied Fezouata biota paints a different evolutionary picture. The Fezouata assemblage includes a considerable component of Cambrian holdovers alongside a surprising number of crown group taxa previously unknown to have evolved by the Early Ordovician. Study of the Fezouata biota is in its early stages, and future discoveries will continue to enrich our view of the dynamics of the early Phanerozoic radiation and of the nature of the fossil record. Supplementary material: A complete faunal list is available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18843.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2015-017",
    doi = "10.1144/jgs2015-017",
    openalex = "W2124526279",
    references = "doi10100797894017960024, doi101016jpalaeo201005031, doi101017s0022336000027773, doi101017s0025315400028575, doi101017s0094837300006539, doi101017s0094837300008186, doi101038122881a0, doi101038nature09038, doi101038nature13010, doi101038nature13414, doi101038nature14256, doi101038ncomms4210, doi101073pnas1111784109, doi101093icb431166, doi101098rstb19810007, doi101111brv12168, doi101126science1169514, doi101130g206401, doi101130g24961a1, doi105962bhltitle50608, doi105962bhltitle82327, doi107312webb12678"
}

@incollection{yeghiazarians2015anoxia,
    author = "Yeghiazarians, Yerem and Harris, Adrian L. and Ameri, Kurosh",
    title = "Anoxia",
    year = "2015",
    booktitle = "Encyclopedia of Cancer",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-46875-3\_292",
    doi = "10.1007/978-3-662-46875-3\_292",
    pages = "249-258"
}

The evolutionary emergence of animals is one of the most significant episodes in the history of life, but its timing remains poorly constrained. Molecular clocks estimate that animals originated and began diversifying over 100 million years before the first definitive metazoan fossil evidence in the Cambrian. However, closer inspection reveals that clock estimates and the fossil record are less divergent than is often claimed. Modern clock analyses do not predict the presence of the crown-representatives of most animal phyla in the Neoproterozoic. Furthermore, despite challenges provided by incomplete preservation, a paucity of phylogenetically informative characters, and uncertain expectations of the anatomy of early animals, a number of Neoproterozoic fossils can reasonably be interpreted as metazoans. A considerable discrepancy remains, but much of this can be explained by the limited preservation potential of early metazoans and the difficulties associated with their identification in the fossil record. Critical assessment of both records may permit better resolution of the tempo and mode of early animal evolution.

@article{doi101002bies201600120,
    author = "Cunningham, John A. and Liu, Alexander and Bengtson, Stefan and Donoghue, Philip C. J.",
    title = "The origin of animals: Can molecular clocks and the fossil record be reconciled?",
    year = "2016",
    journal = "BioEssays",
    abstract = "The evolutionary emergence of animals is one of the most significant episodes in the history of life, but its timing remains poorly constrained. Molecular clocks estimate that animals originated and began diversifying over 100 million years before the first definitive metazoan fossil evidence in the Cambrian. However, closer inspection reveals that clock estimates and the fossil record are less divergent than is often claimed. Modern clock analyses do not predict the presence of the crown-representatives of most animal phyla in the Neoproterozoic. Furthermore, despite challenges provided by incomplete preservation, a paucity of phylogenetically informative characters, and uncertain expectations of the anatomy of early animals, a number of Neoproterozoic fossils can reasonably be interpreted as metazoans. A considerable discrepancy remains, but much of this can be explained by the limited preservation potential of early metazoans and the difficulties associated with their identification in the fossil record. Critical assessment of both records may permit better resolution of the tempo and mode of early animal evolution.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.201600120",
    doi = "10.1002/bies.201600120",
    openalex = "W2560365411",
    references = "doi101038nature08745, doi101038nature10969, doi101038srep14810, doi101111brv12090, doi101111gbi12165, doi101111j1469185x1999tb00046x"
}

@misc{duffus2016anoxia,
    author = "Duffus, John H. and Nordberg, Monica and Templeton, Douglas M.",
    title = "Anoxia",
    year = "2016",
    booktitle = "IUPAC Standards Online",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1515/iupac.79.0820",
    doi = "10.1515/iupac.79.0820"
}

@misc{templeton2016anoxia,
    author = "Templeton, Douglas M. and Schwenk, Michael and Duffus, John H.",
    title = "Anoxia",
    year = "2016",
    booktitle = "IUPAC Standards Online",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1515/iupac.87.0046",
    doi = "10.1515/iupac.87.0046"
}

Exceptionally preserved fossils are the product of complex interplays of biological and geological processes including burial, autolysis and microbial decay, authigenic mineralization, diagenesis, metamorphism, and finally weathering and exhumation. Determining which tissues are preserved and how biases affect their preservation pathways is important for interpreting fossils in phylogenetic, ecological, and evolutionary frameworks. Although laboratory decay experiments reveal important aspects of fossilization, applying the results directly to the interpretation of exceptionally preserved fossils may overlook the impact of other key processes that remove or preserve morphological information. Investigations of fossils preserving non-biomineralized tissues suggest that certain structures that are decay resistant (e.g., the notochord) are rarely preserved (even where carbonaceous components survive), and decay-prone structures (e.g., nervous systems) can fossilize, albeit rarely. As we review here, decay resistance is an imperfect indicator of fossilization potential, and a suite of biological and geological processes account for the features preserved in exceptional fossils.

@article{doi101002bies201700167,
    author = "Parry, Luke A. and Smithwick, Fiann M. and Nordén, Klara K. and Saitta, Evan T. and Lozano-Fernández, Jesús and Tanner, Alastair R. and Caron, Jean‐Bernard and Edgecombe, Gregory D. and Briggs, Derek E. G. and Vinther, Jakob",
    title = "Soft‐Bodied Fossils Are Not Simply Rotten Carcasses – Toward a Holistic Understanding of Exceptional Fossil Preservation",
    year = "2017",
    journal = "BioEssays",
    abstract = "Exceptionally preserved fossils are the product of complex interplays of biological and geological processes including burial, autolysis and microbial decay, authigenic mineralization, diagenesis, metamorphism, and finally weathering and exhumation. Determining which tissues are preserved and how biases affect their preservation pathways is important for interpreting fossils in phylogenetic, ecological, and evolutionary frameworks. Although laboratory decay experiments reveal important aspects of fossilization, applying the results directly to the interpretation of exceptionally preserved fossils may overlook the impact of other key processes that remove or preserve morphological information. Investigations of fossils preserving non-biomineralized tissues suggest that certain structures that are decay resistant (e.g., the notochord) are rarely preserved (even where carbonaceous components survive), and decay-prone structures (e.g., nervous systems) can fossilize, albeit rarely. As we review here, decay resistance is an imperfect indicator of fossilization potential, and a suite of biological and geological processes account for the features preserved in exceptional fossils.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.201700167",
    doi = "10.1002/bies.201700167",
    openalex = "W2768543413",
    references = "briggs1996the, doi101016jcub201606065, doi101038nature04894, doi101038nature12520, doi101038nature13414, doi101038ncomms4210, doi101038ncomms4560, doi101038s415590160022, doi101073pnas1111784109, doi101098rspb20063761, doi101111j1469185x201200220x, doi101111pala12219, doi101130g24961a1, doi10166609147r21, doi102110palo2003p05070r"
}

@article{doi101016jgr201704020,
    author = "Muscente, A.D. and Schiffbauer, James D. and Broce, Jesse S. and Laflamme, Marc and O'Donnell, Kenneth H. and Boag, Thomas H. and Meyer, Michael and Hawkins, Andrew D. and Huntley, John Warren and McNamara, Maria E. and MacKenzie, Lindsay Ann and Stanley, George D. and Hinman, Nancy W. and Hofmann, Michaël and Xiao, Shuhai",
    title = "Exceptionally preserved fossil assemblages through geologic time and space",
    year = "2017",
    journal = "Gondwana Research",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2017.04.020",
    doi = "10.1016/j.gr.2017.04.020",
    openalex = "W2609095816",
    references = "briggs1996the, doi101016jgr201211004, doi101016jpalaeo201202009, doi101016s0031018203006436, doi101038nature09038, doi101073pnas1111784109, doi101126science2224620163, doi101126science28153801173, doi101130g325801, doi1016660094837320020280155lgatio20co2"
}

@misc{crossref2018anoxia,
    title = "Anoxia",
    year = "2018",
    booktitle = "The SAGE Encyclopedia of Intellectual and Developmental Disorders",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483392271.n30",
    doi = "10.4135/9781483392271.n30"
}

@incollection{diamond2018anoxia,
    author = "Diamond, Bruce J.",
    title = "Anoxia",
    year = "2018",
    booktitle = "Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56782-2\_2153-3",
    doi = "10.1007/978-3-319-56782-2\_2153-3",
    pages = "1-2"
}

@article{doi101016jearscirev201902020,
    author = "Klompmaker, Adiël A. and Kelley, Patricia H. and Chattopadhyay, Devapriya and Clements, Jeff C. and Huntley, John Warren and Kowalewski, Michał",
    title = "Predation in the marine fossil record: Studies, data, recognition, environmental factors, and behavior",
    year = "2019",
    journal = "Earth-Science Reviews",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.02.020",
    doi = "10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.02.020",
    openalex = "W2917611271",
    references = "doi101016001669959180043y, doi1010160195667182900416, doi101016jpalaeo200909010, doi101016jpalwor201104001, doi101016s001282520300014x, doi101080027246342011601714, doi101111j150239312002tb00062x, doi101111pala12042, doi101111pala12254, doi101146annureves10110179001551, doi101371journalpone0052200, morris1979the"
}

Ancient protein analysis is a rapidly developing field of research. Proteins ranging in age from the Quaternary to Jurassic are being used to answer questions about phylogeny, evolution, and extinction. However, these analyses are sometimes contentious, and focus primarily on large vertebrates in sedimentary fossilisation environments; there are few studies of protein preservation in fossils in amber. Here we show exceptionally slow racemisation rates during thermal degradation experiments of resin enclosed feathers, relative to previous thermal degradation experiments of ostrich eggshell, coral skeleton, and limpet shell. We also recover amino acids from two specimens of fossil feathers in amber. The amino acid compositions are broadly similar to those of degraded feathers, but concentrations are very low, suggesting that much of the original protein has been degraded and lost. High levels of racemisation in more apolar, slowly racemising amino acids suggest that some of the amino acids were ancient and therefore original. Our findings indicate that the unique fossilisation environment inside amber shows potential for the recovery of ancient amino acids and proteins.

@article{doi101038s41598019429389,
    author = "McCoy, Victoria E. and Gabbott, Sarah E. and Penkman, Kirsty and Collins, Matthew J. and Presslee, Samantha and Holt, J. W. and Grossman, Harrison and Wáng, Bó and Solórzano‐Kraemer, Mónica M. and Delclòs, Xavier and Peñalver, Enrique",
    title = "Ancient amino acids from fossil feathers in amber",
    year = "2019",
    journal = "Scientific Reports",
    abstract = "Ancient protein analysis is a rapidly developing field of research. Proteins ranging in age from the Quaternary to Jurassic are being used to answer questions about phylogeny, evolution, and extinction. However, these analyses are sometimes contentious, and focus primarily on large vertebrates in sedimentary fossilisation environments; there are few studies of protein preservation in fossils in amber. Here we show exceptionally slow racemisation rates during thermal degradation experiments of resin enclosed feathers, relative to previous thermal degradation experiments of ostrich eggshell, coral skeleton, and limpet shell. We also recover amino acids from two specimens of fossil feathers in amber. The amino acid compositions are broadly similar to those of degraded feathers, but concentrations are very low, suggesting that much of the original protein has been degraded and lost. High levels of racemisation in more apolar, slowly racemising amino acids suggest that some of the amino acids were ancient and therefore original. Our findings indicate that the unique fossilisation environment inside amber shows potential for the recovery of ancient amino acids and proteins.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-42938-9",
    doi = "10.1038/s41598-019-42938-9",
    openalex = "W2941236146",
    references = "doi101016s0031018203006436, doi101038nature14249"
}

Burgess Shale-type fossil Lagerstätten provide the best evidence for deciphering the biotic patterns and magnitude of the Cambrian explosion. Here, we report a Lagerstätte from South China, the Qingjiang biota (~518 million years old), which is dominated by soft-bodied taxa from a distal shelf setting. The Qingjiang biota is distinguished by pristine carbonaceous preservation of labile organic features, a very high proportion of new taxa (~53%), and preliminary taxonomic diversity that suggests it could rival the Chengjiang and Burgess Shale biotas. Defining aspects of the Qingjiang biota include a high abundance of cnidarians, including both medusoid and polypoid forms; new taxa resembling extant kinorhynchs; and abundant larval or juvenile forms. This distinctive composition holds promise for providing insights into the evolution of Cambrian ecosystems across environmental gradients.

@article{doi101126scienceaau8800,
    author = "Fu, Dongjing and Tong, Guanghui and Dai, Tao and Liu, Wei and Yang, Yuning and Zhang, Yuan and Cui, Linhao and Li, Luoyang and Yun, Hao and Wu, Yu and Sun, Ao and Liu, Cong and Pei, Wenrui and Gaines, Robert R. and Zhang, Xingliang",
    title = "The Qingjiang biota—A Burgess Shale–type fossil Lagerstätte from the early Cambrian of South China",
    year = "2019",
    journal = "Science",
    abstract = "Burgess Shale-type fossil Lagerstätten provide the best evidence for deciphering the biotic patterns and magnitude of the Cambrian explosion. Here, we report a Lagerstätte from South China, the Qingjiang biota (\textasciitilde 518 million years old), which is dominated by soft-bodied taxa from a distal shelf setting. The Qingjiang biota is distinguished by pristine carbonaceous preservation of labile organic features, a very high proportion of new taxa (\textasciitilde 53\%), and preliminary taxonomic diversity that suggests it could rival the Chengjiang and Burgess Shale biotas. Defining aspects of the Qingjiang biota include a high abundance of cnidarians, including both medusoid and polypoid forms; new taxa resembling extant kinorhynchs; and abundant larval or juvenile forms. This distinctive composition holds promise for providing insights into the evolution of Cambrian ecosystems across environmental gradients.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aau8800",
    doi = "10.1126/science.aau8800",
    openalex = "W2923733494",
    references = "doi1010029781118896372, doi101007s114340140419y, doi1010160016703795000382, doi101016b9780444594259000196, doi101016jearscirev201707017, doi101016jpalwor201510001, doi101017s108933260000276x, doi101038nature11874, doi101038ncomms4210, doi101073pnas1111784109, doi101073pnas1719962115, doi101111j14754983200700656x, doi101130g24961a1, doi101144jgs1582211, doi101144jgs2015083, doi10166612056, doi102110palo2009p09004r"
}

@misc{crossrefNoneanoxia,
    title = "Anoxia",
    year = "None",
    booktitle = "SpringerReference",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1007/springerreference\_179680",
    doi = "10.1007/springerreference\_179680"
}