LATE EDIACARAN DIVERSITY AND PALEOECOLOGY FROM CENTRAL IRAN

The Kushk and Chahmir areas of Central Iran preserve a diverse community of late-Ediacaran (Nama Assemblage) fossils, including both soft-bodied Ediacara biota, and tubular ‘Wormworld’ fauna thought to represent metazoans. We report the occurrence of several biostratigraphically- and biogeographically-important taxa (including kimberellomorphs, cloudinomorphs, Chuaria, and Corumbella), including a new organic-walled tubular taxon. Rudimentary paleoecological analysis reveals both that the Kushk assemblage is significantly more diverse than other Nama-aged assemblages, and that this assemblage is likely undersampled; ongoing field investigations in the area will thus likely reveal additional species. This work demonstrates the need for continued investigations into the late Ediacaran of Iran, and suggests a biosphere in transition, with a shift in diversity and abundance from large Ediacara biota to organic-walled and skeletonized tubular organisms shortly before the Cambrian.