Nimbia (genus)

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Nimbia
Temporal range: Tonian – Cambrian 766–537 Ma
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: incertae sedis
Genus:† Nimbia
Fedonkin, 1980
Type species
†Nimbia occlusa
Fedonkin, 1980
Species
  • N. occlusaFedonkin, 1980
  • N. dniesteriFedonkin, 1983
  • N. paula (?) Gureev, 1985

Nimbia is a common enigmatic discoidal form from Neoproterozoic, possibly into the Cambrian, and can be found from across the globe. Most researchers consider them to either be simple microbial colonies, or have affinities to the cnidarians.

Contents

Discovery

The first fossils of Nimbia were found from the Ediacaran aged Ustʹ Pinega Formation, on the Winter Coast (Zimnii Bereg) of the White Sea, Northwestern Russia, and described in 1980. [1]

Etymology

The generic name Nimbia derives from the Latin word "Nimbus", to mean "halo", in reference to the rim seen in the original fossils. [1]

The specific name for N. occlusa derives from the Latin word "occlusal", to mean "closed", in reference to the smooth appearance of the species. [1] The specific name for N. dniesteri is derived from the Dniester River, which flows past the formation were the fossils specimens for this species were found. [2]

Description

Nimbia occlusa is discoidal in overall shape, ranging from 15–40 mm (0.6–1.6 in) in diameter. It is usually flat, although some fossils may bear a central raised tubercle or a dimple, and the margin of the organism is also notably thick. [1] There are also faint concentric annuli in some specimens, which can get up to 3–5 mm (0.1–0.2 in) wide, and are spaced from each other by 1.5–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in). [1] [3] For a long time, these fossils were considered to be the oldest know probable animals, although many studies done since have recovered older probable remains. [4] They are also preserved as positive hypo-relief and low-relief, meaning that the fossils protrude from the rock surface. [1]

A second species, named some three years after N. occlusa in 1983, was found near the Dniester River in Ukraine, and named N. dniesteri. This species bears the same thick marginal rim and smoother centre, although they notably differ from the type species in that they have a trapezoid morphology, similar to a figure of 8, which is known to reach up to 30–45 mm (1.2–1.8 in) on the longest axis, whilst the rims get up to 5 mm (0.2 in) in width. [2] [5] There is also a notable oral aperture, although it is small and shallow, and is positioned in the centre of the organism. [6]

The third tentative species, named five years after N. occlusa in 1985, was found in the Nagoryany Formation in Ukraine, and named N. paula. This species bears many similarities to N. occlusa with a smooth circular ridge and smooth central region, only differing from the type species in its smaller sizes. [6]

Overall, they have been compared to other medusoid organisms, such as the extant Solmissus , having a similar smooth appearance in the bell, although unlike Solmissus, Nimbia does not have any tentacles. [1]

Affinities

When first described in 1980, Nimbia was originally considered to be a Coelenterata, a now rejected phylum that contains cnidarians. [1] Although, since this interpretation, other researchers have in recent years been slowly putting forward the reinterpretation of Nimbia as a microbial colony instead, alongside a number of other discoidal forms such as Ediacaria . [7] [8]

Taxonomy

Since its description, Nimbia has seen four species assigned to it, although only two remain fully valid, whilst one is tentative and another no longer valid. They are as follows:

SpeciesAuthorityType localityStatusNotesRefs
Nimbia occlusa Fedonkin (1980) Ustʹ Pinega Formation, RussiavalidType species [1]
Nimbia dniesteri Fedonkin (1983) Mohyliv Formation, Ukrainevalid [2]
Nimbia gaojiashanensis Zhang (1986) Dengying Formation, ChinainvalidJunior synonym of tubular fossil Gaojiashania cyclus . [9] [10] [11]
Nimbia paula Gureev (1985) Nagoryany Formation, Ukraine Symbol question.svg The species was described from a single specimen. [12] [13] [6]

Distribution

Nimbia occurs in a number of locations across a large range of time. The oldest known fossils have been recorded from the Kurgan Formation in Kazakhstan, which has been dated to roughly 766  Ma , placing them firmly within the Tonian. [14] [a] They have also been found in the Twitya Formation of Canada, [3] which has been dated to 662±3  Ma near the end of the Sturtian glaciation in the Cryogenian. [15] Alongside this, they have also been recorded in a number of Ediacaran formations, from the Ustʹ Pinega Formation in Russia, [1] the Mohyliv Formation, Dniester River in Ukraine, [2] the Lakheri Limestone, Sirbu and Sonia Formation in India, [16] [5] the Itajaí Basin in Brazil, [17] the Adoudou Formation in Morocco, [18] the Dengying Formation in South China, [9] to the Estenilla Formation in Spain. [19]

There are also tentative records from the Ediacaran Innerelv Member of the Stappogiedde Formation in Norway, [20] the Ediacaran Mahi Formation in India, [21] the Ediacaran aged "Lower Member" of the Wood Canyon Formation and the Ediacaran Stirling Quartzite Formation in the United States, [22] the Ediacaran aged Sukhoy Pit Group in Siberia, [8] and the lower Cambrian aged Breivik Formation in Norway. [23]

They had also been recorded from the upper Cambrian Booley Bay Formation in Ireland, [24] although these were later discounted as simple swing marks. [25]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The paper was written before the Tonian period was extended from 1000 – 850 to 1000 – 720 Ma.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Fedonkin, MA (1980). "Novye Predstaviteli Dokembriyskikh Kishechnopolostnykh na Severe Russkoy Platformy (New Precambrian Coelenterata in the North of the Russian Platform)" (PDF). Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal (in Russian). 2: 7–15.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Fedonkin, M. A. (1983). "Non-skeletal fauna of Podolia, Dniester River valley". In Velikanov, V. A.; Asseeva, E. A.; Fedonkin, M. A. (eds.). The Vendian of the Ukraine (in Russian). Kiev: Naukova Dumka. pp. 128–139.
  3. 1 2 Hofmann, H. J.; Narbonne, G. M.; Aitken, J. D. (1990). "Ediacaran remains from intertillite beds in northwestern Canada". Geology. 18 (12): 1199. doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1990)018<1199:ERFIBI>2.3.CO;2.
  4. ↑ Grazhdankin, D. V.; Goy, Yu. Yu.; Maslov, A. V. (October 2012). "Late Riphean microbial colonies adapted to desiccating environments". Doklady Earth Sciences. 446 (2): 1157–1161. doi:10.1134/S1028334X12100157.
  5. 1 2 N/A, Hukmaram; Harsh, Anshul; Kumar, Pawan; Parihar, V. S. (10 November 2023). "Nimbia: The Discoid Organisms from Ediacaran Sonia Sandstone of Jodhpur Group, Marwar Supergroup, Western India". Current Science. 125 (9): 999. doi:10.18520/cs/v125/i9/999-1004.
  6. 1 2 3 Ivantsov, A.Y.; Grytsenko, V.; Paliy, V.; Velikanov, V.A.; Konstantinenko, L.I.; Menasova, A.S.; Fedonkin, M.A.; Zakrevskaya, M.A.; Serezhnikova, E.A. (Jan 2015). Upper Vendian macrofossils of Eastern Europe. Middle Dniester area and Volhynia (in Russian and English). PIN RAS. pp. 1–146. ISBN   978-5-903825-32-5.
  7. ↑ Bykova, Natalia (June 2010). "Ediacaran holdfasts and their systematics". Journal of Earth Science. 21 (S1): 1–3. doi:10.1007/s12583-010-0152-7.
  8. 1 2 Liu, Alexander G.; Brasier, Martin D.; Bogolepova, Olga K.; Raevskaya, Elena G.; Gubanov, Alexander P. (1 August 2013). "First report of a newly discovered Ediacaran biota from the Irkineeva Uplift, East Siberia". Newsletters on Stratigraphy. 46 (2): 95–110. doi:10.1127/0078-0421/2013/0031.
  9. 1 2 Zhang, L.A. (1986). "A discovery and preliminary study of the late stage of the late Gaojiashan biota from the Sinian of Ningqiang County, Shanxi". Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Xi'an Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources Bulletin. 13: 67–88.
  10. ↑ McCall, G.J.H. (July 2006). "The Vendian (Ediacaran) in the geological record: Enigmas in geology's prelude to the Cambrian explosion". Earth-Science Reviews. 77 (1–3): 1–229. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2005.08.004.
  11. ↑ Cai, Y.; Hua, H.; Zhang, X. (2013). "Tube construction and life mode of the late Ediacaran tubular fossil Gaojiashania cyclus from the Gaojiashan Lagerstätte". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 224: 255–267. doi:10.1016/j.precamres.2012.09.022.
  12. ↑ Gureev, Yu. A. (1985). "Vendiata – primitive Precambrian Radialia". Problematics of the Late Precambrian and Paleozoic. Tr. Inst. Geol. Geofiz. Sib. Otd. Akad. Nauk SSSR (in Russian). 632. Moscow: Nauka: 92–103.
  13. ↑ Gureev, Y.A. (1987). "Morfologicheskii analiz i sistematika vendiat" [Morphological Analysis and Taxonomy Vendiata]. Academy for Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, Institute of Geological Sciences: 189–216.
  14. ↑ Meert, J. G.; Gibsher, A. S.; Levashova, N. M.; Grice, W. C.; Kamenov, G. D.; Rybanin, A. (2010). "Glaciation and ~770 Ma Ediacara (?) Fossils from the Lesser Karatau Microcontinent, Kazakhstan". Gondwana Research. 19 (4): 867–880. Bibcode:2011GondR..19..867M. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2010.11.008.
  15. ↑ Rooney, Alan D.; Macdonald, Francis A.; Strauss, Justin V.; Dudás, Francis Ö.; Hallmann, Christian; Selby, David (7 January 2014). "Re-Os geochronology and coupled Os-Sr isotope constraints on the Sturtian snowball Earth". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 111 (1): 51–56. doi:10.1073/pnas.1317266110. hdl: 1721.1/89082 . PMC   3890860 .
  16. ↑ De, Chirananda (September 2006). "Ediacara fossil assemblage in the upper Vindhyans of Central India and its significance". Journal of Asian Earth Sciences. 27 (5): 660–683. doi:10.1016/j.jseaes.2005.06.006.
  17. ↑ Becker-Kerber, Bruno; Paim, Paulo Sergio Gomes; Chemale Junior, Farid; Girelli, Tiago Jonatan; da Rosa, Ana Lucia Zucatti; Albani, Abderrazak El; Osés, Gabriel Ladeira; Prado, Gustavo M.E.M.; Figueiredo, Milene; Simões, Luiz Sérgio Amarante; Pacheco, Mírian Liza Alves Forancelli (August 2020). "The oldest record of Ediacaran macrofossils in Gondwana (~563 Ma, Itajaí Basin, Brazil)". Gondwana Research. 84: 211–228. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2020.03.007.
  18. ↑ Azizi, Abdelfattah; Vinn, Olev; Bakhouch, Asmaa El; Kirsimäe, Kalle; Hafid, Ahmid; Hariri, Khadija El (September 2025). "The Adoudou Biota: A new window on the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition from the western Anti-Atlas, Morocco". Precambrian Research. 427: 107885. doi:10.1016/j.precamres.2025.107885.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: article number as page number (link)
  19. ↑ Zhuravlev, Andrey Yu.; Liñán, Eladio; Vintaned, José Antonio Gámez; Debrenne, Françoise; Fedorov, Aleksandr B. (March 2012). "New Finds of Skeletal Fossils in the Terminal Neoproterozoic of the Siberian Platform and Spain". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 57 (1): 205–224. doi:10.4202/app.2010.0074.
  20. ↑ Farmer, J.; Vidal, G.; Moczydłowska, M.; Strauss, H.; Ahlberg, P.; Siedlecka, A. (March 1992). "Ediacaran fossils from the Innerelv Member (late Proterozoic) of the Tanafjorden area, northeastern Finnmark". Geological Magazine. 129 (2): 181–195. doi:10.1017/S001675680000827X.
  21. ↑ Shanker, Ravi; Bhattacharya, D D; Pande, A.C.; Mathur, V. K (1 June 2004). "Ediacaran Biota from the Jarashi (Middle Krol) and Mahi (Lower Krol) Formations, Krol Group, Lesser Himalaya, India". Journal of the Geological Society of India. 63 (6): 649–654. doi:10.17491/jgsi/2004/630607.
  22. ↑ Hagadorn, James W.; Waggoner, Ben (2000). "Ediacaran Fossils from the Southwestern Great Basin, United States". Journal of Paleontology. 74 (2): 349–359. Bibcode:2000JPal...74..349H. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2000)074<0349:EFFTSG>2.0.CO;2. ISSN   0022-3360. JSTOR   1306912.
  23. ↑ Crimes, T. P.; McILROY, D. (November 1999). "A biota of Ediacaran aspect from lower Cambrian strata on the Digermul Peninsula, Arctic Norway". Geological Magazine. 136 (6): 633–642. doi:10.1017/S0016756899003179.
  24. ↑ Crimes, T. P.; Insole, A.; Williams, B. P. J. (June 1995). "A rigid‐bodied Ediacaran Biota from Upper Cambrian strata in Co. Wexford, Eire". Geological Journal. 30 (2): 89–109. doi:10.1002/gj.3350300202.
  25. ↑ MacGabhann, B. A.; Murray, J.; Nicholas, C. (January 2007). "Ediacaria booleyi : weeded from the Garden of Ediacara?". Geological Society, London, Special Publications. 286 (1): 277–295. doi:10.1144/SP286.20.
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