Tappania

Tappania is a putative eukaryotic microfossil[1] the type acritarch found in sediments up to 1,630 million years old. Its morphology suggests it is related to fungi. Two types have been identified to date:

• Tappania plana appears in Paleoproterozoic formations of India (Deonar) and northern China (Baicaoping and Beidajian), both with an age of 1,630 mya. It is a roughly spherical acritarch, 30-60 μm in diameter, with one or two small necks. Small branched and / or partitioned tubes emerge from the central body.
• Tappania sp. It appears in deposits of the Neoproterozoic in northern Australia, northwestern US and central Siberia, with an age of up to 850 mya and 200-300 mya stratigraphic presence. It is larger that Flat Tappania, up to 300 μm in length, with an elongated or lobed central body from where hyphae-like tubular extensions radiate. These hyphae form a three-dimensional network around the central body.