Miaohephyton Explained

Miaohephyton is a carbonaceous compression fossil of a thalloid organism that has been interpreted as a brown alga.^[1] Its Neoproterozoic age is incompatible with molecular clocks that estimate the divergence of the brown algae around, leading to suggestions that its "brown algal" features are the result of convergence.^[2]

The organism grew both by apical growth (leading to bifurcation) and intercalary growth (increasing the distances between nodes). Some specimens are smooth, whereas others bear rounded structures that are interpreted as conceptacles.

Notes and References

1. Xiao . Shuhai . Knoll . Andrew H. . Yuan . Xunlai . 1998 . Morphological reconstruction of Miaohephyton bifurcatum, a possible brown alga from the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo formation, South China . Journal of Paleontology . 72 . 6 . 1072–1086 . 1306737 . 10.1017/s0022336000027414. 1998JPal...72.1072X . 86134146 .
2. Brown . Joseph W. . Sorhannus . Ulf . A molecular genetic timescale for the diversification of autotrophic stramenopiles (Ochrophyta): substantive underestimation of putative fossil ages . PLOS ONE . 5 . 9 . e12759 . 2010 . 20862282 . 2940848 . 10.1371/journal.pone.0012759 . 2010PLoSO...512759B . free .