Chuariomorphs from the Upper Vendian Chernyi Kamen Formation of the Central Urals (Perm Krai)

Abstract

The complex body-trace fossils of Vendian soft-bodied biota have been found for the first time in the Central Urals during the study of the Vilukha and Sinii Kamen members of the Chernyi Kamen Formation of the Upper Vendian Sylvitsa Group (Kos’va River area, Perm Krai of Russia). These sedimentary sequences were exposed along the valley of the Shirokovskii Reservoir. Among the fossils, the chuariomorpha-like species Beltanelliformis konovalovi, previously described from the Konovalovka Member of the Chernyi Kamen Formation, was identified. However, the morphological analysis of the new fossil material revealed a number of principal differences from representatives of the genus Beltanelliformis Menner, 1974. It was shown that the taxon B. konovalovi, most likely, does not belong to this genus and probably needs further revision, and, in turn, the fossil locality at the Shirokovskii Reservoir allows us to establish a new area with fossils of the Precambrian mobile organisms.