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The study of petrographic thin sections of early diageneteic chert from diverse levels and localities of the Assistência Formation in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, revealed for the first time an exceptionally well-preserved assemblage of delicate fossil microorganisms in this important stratigraphic and paleontological Early Permian marker unit of the Paraná Basin. This assemblage consists primarily of delicate colonial and solitary unicellular microfossils, dominated by cyanobacteria, without any evidence whatsoever of filamentous microorganisms. It also includes a probable cocoidal chlorophyte, pollen grains and phytoclasts, as well as several less common microfossils of uncertain biological affinity. None of the delicate microfossils of this assemblage have ever been detected in palynological analyses of organic residues from this formation. The study of thin sections made it possible to observe not only all of the fossil microorganisms in three dimensions within the rock but also their original spatial distribution and relationships with other components of the rock. This facilitated evaluation of the morphological diversity of the fossil microorganisms and permitted inferences as to possible ontogenetic patterns. Fourteen morphotypes were recognized among the more delicate microfossils and attributed to five species (all new) of known biological affinities (four species of cyanobacterias and one chlorophyte) and five taxa of Incertae Sedis. The fossil microbiota occurs principally at the base of the formation as dense, voluminous masses interpreted as remains of an in situ benthonic microbiota of photosynthetic microorganisms capable of forming microbial mats and small stromatolites. The sedimentology, together with the widespread distribution, habit, abundance and exclusively unicellular nature of the fossil microorganisms and the paleoenvironmental implications suggested by analogous modern examples, are consistent with a shallow aquatic habitat of high and perhaps variable salinity for the microbiota.

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