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Gibbavasis
[edit]Gibbavasis kushkii[1] is a type species that has been dated back to the Ediacaran period, discovered only in the Kushk Series in Central Iran. It is named Gibbavasis from the latin word Gibba, meaning bumpy, and vasis, meaning vase. Kushkii referring to its location in the Kushk series. Gibbavasis is a small vase-shaped sponge that has been preserved from the sediment at the bottom of the basin it lived.[2] An aquatic species, little else is known about it. No definitive classification has been made, restricted only to its genus and species name[3]. To date only 9 specimens have been located, all with a similar fossilization method and a similar paleoenvironment.[4][5] They have been found only in the Kushk Series, where over 250 Ediacaran fossils have been discovered.
Morphology, Anatomy, & Behavior
[edit]Gibbavasis consisted of a small (4-13mm long, 2-7 mm wide) vase-shaped aquatic species with distinct rows of round protrusions, which originally represented external openings that filled with sediment during fossilization process.[2] A deeper look at its morphology shows hemispherical bumps that run longitudinally as seven to nine rows across the width. There are also latitudinal rows, giving the specimen a lattice-like appearance.[2] It has been interpreted as a potential sponge by Vaziri et al 2018, and the fossil has been described as a concave pit filled with sediment, filled from a potential entryway for water currents when the specimen was alive.[6] It’s morphology suggests that it sat at the bottom of the sea floor, illustrated by the included sketch.[7] From this a conclusion has been drawn that it was a filter feeder at the sea floor.[2]
Method of Fossilization
[edit]The fossilization process for Gibbavasis has remained the same for all known specimens. All have been found in the Kushk Series in Central Iran, where the paleoenvironment was similar. There is no currently known method for the fossilization of this species, all that has been proposed is the specimen filling with sediment from a concave hole at the opening of the vase-shape.[6]
| Gibbavasis kushkii Temporal range: Ediacaran Period, 635-541 Ma
| |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Unknown
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| Phylum: | Unknown
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| Class: | Unknown
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| Order: | Unknown
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| Family: | Unknown
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| Genus: | Gibbavasis
|
| Type species | |
| Gibbavasis kushkii | |
Distribution & Paleoenvironment
[edit]Only 9 specimens of Gibbavasis have been located, all in the Kushk Series in the Bafq and Behabad regions of Central Iran[8]. The Kushk Series has an extensive sedimentary succession, with layers of black shale, rhyolite, limestone, sandstone, dolomite, and more. It is currently considered to have been a basin, with over 250 different fossils discovered there. There was a large number of Ediacaran fossils and trace fossils discovered there, all believed to have been aquatic organisms. The shift to the current elevations of the Kushk Series comes from tectonic shift movements, dated back to the end of the Neoproterozoic.[4]
Other Notable Characteristics
[edit]Gibbavasis is recognized as being an aquatic Ediacaran fossil that was vase-shaped. Although extensive classification has been difficult, there have been discoveries of other specimens looking similar, including the Ausia which has similar characteristics but is fan shaped.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ "PBDB". paleobiodb.org. Retrieved 2021-12-10.
- ^ a b c d e Vaziri, S.H. (2018). "Diverse Assemblage of Ediacaran fossils from Central Iran". Science Report. 8.1: 1–7.
- ^ "Ediacaran biota", Wikipedia, 2021-11-22, retrieved 2021-12-10
- ^ a b Vaziri, S.H. (2018). "Lithostratigraphy and sedimentary environment of the Precambrian Kushk Series of central Iran". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 55: 1284–1296.
- ^ Francovschi, I. (2020). "U–Pb geochronology and Hf isotope systematics of detrital zircon from the late Ediacaran Kalyus Beds (East European Platform): palaeogeographic evolution of southwestern Baltica and constraints on the Ediacaran biota". Precambrian Research. 355.
- ^ a b Vaziri, S.H. (2020). "Ediacaran diversity and paleoecology from Central Iran". Journal of Paleontology. 95.2: 236–251.
- ^ Apokryltaros (2019-03-31), English: Reconstruction of the recently described Gibbavasis kushkii, reconstructed as an Ausia-like tunicate, from the Kushk and Chamir of Latest Precambrian Iran., retrieved 2021-12-10
- ^ Vaziri, S.H. (2018). "New discovery on Ediacaran fossils from the Kushk Series in Bafq and Behabad regions of Central Iran". Geosciences. 28.112: 261–268.
