NEW DATA OF MICROFOSSILS BAIKALIA OF THE PATOM UPLAND

In the mudstones of the Urin Formation of the Dalnyaya Taiga horizon o f the Patom Upland a rich biota of organostenic microfossils has been found. Analysis of the systematic composition of their association and of their vertical distribution shows that the direct paleontological data obtained are the first to throw light on the Baikalia age. The as sociation contains such taxons as Simia simica (Jank.), Polytrichoides lineatus Herm., Palaeovaucheria clavata Herm., Digitus fulvus Pjatile tov emend., Tanarium conoideum Kolosova., T. tuberosum Moczydlowska et al., Cavaspina basiconica Moczydlowska et al., etc., which points to its role as a link between the rich Lachandinian and Vendian microbiot as. This excludes a possibility of referring Baikalia to the Middle Ri phean, as it is usually done by some researchers. Seven microfossil sp ecies of six types are described, including three new species (Miroedi chia lobata sp. nov., Tanarium triangulum sp. nov., Lophospaeridium st robilatum sp. nov.).