Tawuia Explained

Tawuia is a millimetric disc-shaped, most likely multicellular macrofossil from the Neoproterozoic. It is considered to be synonymous with Chuaria and Longfengshania, which, in turn, are thought to represent different life stages of the same organism.

Tawuia describes a more sausage- or crescent-shaped fossil; Chuaria refers to more discoial instances.

The fossils are often preserved as organic compressions. They are considered to represent microbial structures; some authors affiliate them with slime moldsStratigraphically, they range from ^[1] to the early Cambrian^[2]

Chuaria is multicellular.

Notes and References

1. P.. R. . Proterozoic carbonaceous remains from the Chorhat Sandstone: oldest fossils of the Vindhyan Supergroup, Central India . Geobios . 39. 6. Srivastava . 873–878 . 2006 . 10.1016/j.geobios.2006.02.001. Bali. 2006Geobi..39..873S .
2. Li . Rui-Yun . Fu . Dong-Jing . Zhang . Xing-Liang . Chuaria Walcott from the early Cambrian Qingjiang biota: a taxon persisted for billions of years . Palaeoworld . 22 December 2022 . 33 . 1 . 11–21 . 10.1016/j.palwor.2022.12.008 .