| Qingshania Temporal range:1640–1590 Ma | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | incertae sedis |
| Genus: | †Qingshania Yan, 1989 |
| Type species | |
| Qingshania magnifica Yan, 1989 | |
| Species | |
| |
Qingshania is a genus of enigmaticeukaryote from theChuanlinggou Formation andGaoyuzhuang Formation of China. It contains two species,Qingshania magnifica[1] andQingshania kuanchengensis.[2]
Both species have cells up to around 200 micrometers across, althoughQ. kuanchengensis is the only one known from complete filaments. These filaments are roughly 8 mm long, with much smaller, blunted or conical terminal cells on each end.[2] The filaments are uniform in width or taper towards one end, with mainly cylindrical cells. These cells often lack constrictions at their interfaces inQ. magnifica, and this is likely the case forQ. kuanchengensis as well. Unusually,Qingshania cells sometimes contain intracellular inclusions (or ICIs), which are likely spores due to their large size and well-defined nature. This genus seems to be within a clade of various other filamentous taxa, more specifically sharing the most similarities with the lateStenianEosolena andSegmentothallus from theLakhanda Group. However, these latter genera are several times larger thanQingshania with filaments up to 800 micrometers across, alongside seemingly lacking ICIs. Very similar filaments toQingshania are known from theRuyang Group, and they may even be the same genus due to similar age, however these are undescribed.[1]