Maculicorpus
| Maculicorpus Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification Edit this classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Placozoa |
| Genus: | †Maculicorpus Knaust, 2021 |
| Species: | †M. microbialis
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Maculicorpus microbialis Knaust, 2021
| |
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
[edit | edit source]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
[edit | edit source]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
[edit | edit source]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 manor 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
[edit | edit source]- ^ a b Knaust 2021, p. 5–6.
- ^ Knaust 2021, p. 5.
- ^ Tessler et al. 2022, p. 7.
- ^ Naimark et al. 2025, p. 345.
Works cited
[edit | edit source]- Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
Lua error in Module:Taxonbar at line 165: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
.jpg){kind=link}