Biology:Maculicorpus
Maculicorpus is a fossil genus, potentially a placozoan, from the Middle Triassic of Germany. If its identity is correct, it is the only placozoan known from the fossil record. It comprises a single known species, Maculicorpus microbialis.[1]
Discovery
Maculicorpus is known from a microbialite bed discovered in the Troistedt Quarry near Weimar, as part of the Meißner Formation. The microbialite has been dated to the late Anisian to early Ladinian.[2]
Description
The specimens referred to Maculicorpus appear as flat patches, brown to ochre in color, varying between 1 mm (0.04 in) and 5 mm (0.20 in) in diameter. The outline is irregular and varies in overall shape from circular to elongate, fan-shaped or multi-lobed. The holotype, 4.5 mm (0.18 in) in length, is constricted in the middle, appearing as an aggregate of a larger, irregularly rounded portion and a smaller elliptical one.[1] Maculicorpus is larger than any modern-day placozoan.[3]
Classification
A study on the taphonomy of a modern-day placozoan, Trichoplax, cast uncertanity on the placozoan affinity of Maculicorpus due to the fact that placozoans appear to disintegrate into their component cells upon death in a manner inconsistent with the observed preservation of Maculicorpus. It was stressed more evidence for placozoan affinity is necessary, and that if the genus is a placozoan it must have been unlike modern forms in certain ways.[4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Knaust 2021, p. 5–6.
- ↑ Knaust 2021, p. 5.
- ↑ Tessler et al. 2022, p. 7.
- ↑ Naimark et al. 2025, p. 345.
Works cited
- Knaust, Dirk (2021-10-07). "A microbialite with its entombed benthic community from the Middle Triassic (Anisian-Ladinian) Muschelkalk Group of Germany" (in en). Palaeontographica Abteilung A 320 (1–3): 1–63. doi:10.1127/pala/2021/0114. ISSN 0375-0442. Bibcode: 2021PalAA.320....1K. http://www.schweizerbart.de/papers/pala/detail/320/99661/A_microbialite_with_its_entombed_benthic_community?af=crossref.
- Tessler, Michael; Neumann, Johannes S.; Kamm, Kai; Osigus, Hans-Jürgen; Eshel, Gil; Narechania, Apurva; Burns, John A.; DeSalle, Rob et al. (2022-12-08). "Phylogenomics and the first higher taxonomy of Placozoa, an ancient and enigmatic animal phylum". Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 10. doi:10.3389/fevo.2022.1016357. Bibcode: 2022FrEEv..1016357T. https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1902587.
- Naimark, Elena; Lyupina, Yulia; Finoshin, Alexander; Nikitin, Mikhail (2025). "Taphonomic experiments shed light on fossilization potential of placozoa". PALAIOS 40 (11): 336–348. doi:10.2110/palo.2024.020. https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/sepm/palaios/article-abstract/40/11/336/689117/TAPHONOMIC-EXPERIMENTS-SHED-LIGHT-ON-FOSSILIZATION.
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