Saarina
| Saarina Temporal range: Ediacaran to Cambrian, about 558–535 Ma | |
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| A fossil of Saarina juliae | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | incertae sedis |
| Family: | Saarinidae Sokolov, 1965 |
| Genus: | Saarina Sokolov, 1965 |
| Species | |
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Saarina are tube fossils from the Ediacaran (Vendian) and Early Cambrian marine deposites of the European Russia. This fossils are comparable to the dwelling tubes of worms or cnidarians.
Occurrence
Fossils of the type species, S. tenera, were found in a core from the Gatchina №13 borehole in the Leningrad Region, Russia. The deposites with this fossil are referred to the Rovno Horizon, lowermost Cambrian (=Fortunian Stage)
S. kirsanovi fossils were found in core from the Vorob'evo №1 borehole, Moscow Region and in core from the Malinovka borehole, near Obozersky in the Arkhangelsk Region.
S. juliae was found in core from the Gavrilov-Yam №5 borehole, Yaroslavl Region. The deposites with S. kirsanovi and S. juliae are referred to the Redkino Horizon, Upper Vendian (Ediacaran), and aged about 558 mya.
Description
The fossils are found in a mudstone and preserved in the form of flat pyrite ribbons as a result of superficial pyritization on early stage of organic decomposition.
Saarina tubes were cylindrical form, conical at the base, consisting of funnel-shaped narrow rings. The wall of the tube was thin, originally organic-walled, not chitinous. The tubes up to a width of 7 mm.
The species of the Saarina are differed mainly in the form of funnels:
- S. tenera have a straight conical funnels.
- S. juliae have a conical funnels, curved outward.
- S. kirsanovi have a funnels curved inward.
See also
References
- Gnilovskaya, M. B. (1996). "New saarinids from the Vendian of the Russian Platform". Dokl. Ross. Akad. Nauk 348: 89–93.