Ediacaran life

enigmatic tubular and frond-shaped, mostly sessile organisms that lived during the Ediacaran Period (ca. 635–542 Mya)

Dickinsonia is a genus of extinct organism that lived during the late Ediacaran period in what is now Australia, China, Russia, and Ukraine. It had a round, approximately bilaterally symmetric body with multiple segments running along it. It could range from a few millimeters to over a meter in length, and likely lived in shallow waters, feeding on the microbial mats that dominated the seascape at the time.

Charnia is an extinct genus of frond-like lifeforms belonging to the Ediacaran biota with segmented, leaf-like ridges branching alternately to the right and left from a zig-zag medial suture (thus exhibiting glide reflection, or opposite isometry). The genus Charnia was named after Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire, England, where the first fossilised specimen was found; the first species of Charnia described, Charnia masoni, was named after Roger Mason, a schoolboy who was believed to have initially discovered it. Charnia is significant because it was the first Precambrian fossil to be recog

Kimberella is an extinct genus of marine bilaterian known only from rocks of the Ediacaran period. The slug-like organism fed by scratching the microbial surface on which it dwelt in a manner similar to the gastropods, although its affinity with this group is contentious.

Tribrachidium is a tri-radially symmetric fossil animal that lived in the late Ediacaran (Vendian) seas. In life, it was hemispherical in form. T. heraldicum is the best known member of the extinct group Trilobozoa.

Trilobozoa, from Ancient Greek τρεῖς (treîs), meaning "three", λοβός (lobós), meaning "lobe", and ζῷον (zôion), meaning "animal", is a phylum of extinct, sessile animals that were originally classified into the Cnidaria. The basic body plan of trilobozoans is often a triradial or radial sphere-shaped form with lobes radiating from its centre. Fossils of trilobozoans are restricted to marine strata of the Late Ediacaran period.

Charniodiscus is an Ediacaran fossil that in life was probably a stationary filter feeder that lived anchored to a sandy sea bed. The organism had a holdfast, stalk and frond. The holdfast was bulbous shaped, and the stalk was flexible. The frond was segmented and had a pointed tip. There were two growth forms: one with a short stem and a wide frond, and another with a long stalk, elevating a smaller frond about above the holdfast. While the organism superficially resembles the sea pens (cnidaria), it is probably not a crown-group animal.

mineralized fossils, many only a few millimetres long, with a nearly continuous record from the latest stages of the Ediacaran to the end of the Early Cambrian Period.

Grypania is an early, tube-shaped fossil from the Proterozoic eon. The organism, with a size over one centimeter and consistent form, could have been a giant bacterium, a bacterial colony, or a eukaryotic alga. The oldest probable Grypania fossils date to about 1870 million years ago (redated from the previous 2100 million) and the youngest extended into the Ediacaran period. This implies that the time range of this taxon extended for 1200 million years.

Aspidella is also a homonym for the mushroom genus Saproamanita.

Yorgia waggoneri is a discoid Ediacaran organism. It has a low, segmented body consisting of a short wide "head", no appendages, and a long body region, reaching a maximum length of . It is classified within the extinct animal phylum Proarticulata.

Cyclomedusa is a circular fossil of the Ediacaran biota; it has a circular bump in the middle and as many as five circular growth ridges around it. Many specimens are small, but specimens in excess of 20 cm are known. The concentric disks are not necessarily circular, especially when adjacent individuals interfere with each other's growth. Many radial segment lines — somewhat pineapple-like — extend across the outer disks. A few specimens show what might be a stem extending from the center in some direction or other.

proposed evolutionary event in the history of metazoa

The rangeomorphs are a group of Ediacaran fossils. Ediacarans are the oldest large fossil organisms on earth, and many are not self-evidently related to anything else that has ever lived. However, some Ediacarans clearly resemble each other. Paleontologists have not been able to agree on what else, if anything, is related to these organisms, so Ediacarans are usually classified into groups based on their appearance. These "form taxa" allow scientists to study and discuss Ediacarans when they cannot know what kind of living things they were, or how they were genetically related to each other. R

fossil bilaterian

The petalonamids (Petalonamae) or frondomorphs are an extinct group of archaic animals typical of the Ediacaran biota, dating from approximately 635 million years ago to 516 million years ago. They are benthic and immobile animals,

Albumares brunsae is a tri-radially symmetrical fossil animal that lived on the late Ediacaran seafloor. It is a member of the extinct group Trilobozoa.

Parvancorina is a genus of shield-shaped bilaterally symmetrical fossil animal that lived in the late Ediacaran seafloor. It has some superficial similarities with the Cambrian trilobite-like arthropods.

Rangea is a frond-like Ediacaran fossil with six-fold radial symmetry. It is the type genus of the rangeomorphs.

Arkarua adami is a small, Precambrian disk-like fossil with a raised center, a number of radial ridges on the rim, and a five-pointed central depression marked with radial lines of five small dots from the middle of the disk center. Fossils range from 3 to 10 mm in diameter.

Pteridinium is an erniettomorph found in a number of Precambrian deposits worldwide. It is a member of the Ediacaran biota.

Vernanimalcula guizhouena is an acritarch dating from ; it was between 0.1 and 0.2 mm across (roughly the width of one or two human hairs). Vernanimalcula means "small spring animal", referring to its appearance in the fossil record at the end of the Marinoan Glaciation and the belief upon discovery it was an animal.

geological formation in China

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Ernietta is an extinct genus of Ediacaran organisms with an infaunal lifestyle. Fossil preservations and modeling indicate this organism was sessile and "sack"-shaped. It survived partly buried in substrate, with an upturned bell-shaped frill exposed above the sediment-water interface. Ernietta have been recovered from present-day Namibia, and are a part of the Ediacaran biota, a late Proterozoic radiation of multicellular organisms. They are among the earliest complex multicellular organisms and are known from the late Ediacaran (ca. 548 Ma to 541 Ma). Ernietta plateauensis remains the sole s

Namacalathus is a problematic metazoan fossil occurring in the latest Ediacaran. The first, and only described species, N. hermanastes, was first described in 2000 from the Nama Group of central and southern Namibia.

extinction event marking the end of the Proterozoic eon and the beginning of the Phanerozoic eon (as well as the Cambrian era)

Windermeria aitkeni (named after Windermere, British Columbia, Canada) is a Precambrian organism from the Blueflower Formation of Sekwi Brook North, in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Only one specimen has been found. Windermeria is a small (16.4 × 7.9 mm) segmented elongated oval fossil with eight nearly equal-sized segments arranged transverse to medial furrow in opposite arrangement. Windermeria superficially resembles a diminutive Dickinsonia and as such is the only possible dickinsoniid proarticulatan known exclusively from outside of Australia and East Europe.

Vendia is an extinct vendiamorph from the late Ediacaran, estimated to be around 567 - 550 Ma years old, it contains two species, V. sokolovi and V. rachiata, both of which are restricted to the Ust' Pinega Formation in Northwestern Russia.

Auroralumina (from Latin aurōra "dawn", lūmina "lights") is a genus of cnidarian from the Ediacaran of Charnwood Forest, comprising the single species Auroralumina attenboroughii. It is the earliest known crown-group cnidarian, and also the earliest known animal predator.

Andiva ivantsovi is a Vendian fossil, identified to be a bilaterian triploblastic animal in the Ediacaran phylum Proarticulata, known from the Winter Coast, White Sea, Russia. It was first discovered in 1977, and described as a new species in a new genus by Mikhail Fedonkin in 2002. It lived about 555 million years ago. Fossils of Andiva also occur in South Australia. All known fossils of Andiva are external molds.

Cephalonega stepanovi is a fossil organism from Ediacaran deposits of the Arkhangelsk Region, Russia. It was described by Mikhail A. Fedonkin in 1976.

Obamus is an extinct enigmatic organism from the late Ediacaran of Australia, . It is torus in shape, and is a monotypic genus, containing only Obamus coronatus.

Thectardis avalonensis is a triangular-shaped member of the Ediacaran biota, dating from . The organism took the form of an elongated cone with a central depression, and its apex was anchored to the substrate. Sperling et al. (2011) suggest that Thectardis was a sponge, while Antcliffe et al. (2014, 2015) instead suggest that it is the decayed remains of rangeomorphs.

Ovatoscutum concentricum is one of many enigmatic organisms known from the Ediacaran deposits of the Flinders Ranges, Australia, and the White Sea area in Russia, dating around 555 Ma.

Bradgatia is a bush-like Ediacaran fossil, superficially resembling a compressed cabbage in appearance. It has been found in the United Kingdom and Newfoundland and Labrador. It is a monotypic genus, containing only Bradgatia linfordensis.

Inaria is an Ediacaran fossil. It is found in the Chace Range in Australia, and the White Sea area in Russia.

Funisia is a genus of extinct, colonial sponge-like organisms from the late Ediacaran of South Australia. It is the most common genus within the fossils beds it is known from, and may have partially driven the paleoenvironment and paleoecology of the areas in which it was found by stopping other organisms from taking hold, or providing nutrients upon a mass death. It is a monotypic genus, containing only Funisia dorothea.

Anfesta stankovskii is a tri-radially symmetrical fossil animal that lived on the late Ediacaran (Vendian) seafloor. It is a member of the extinct group Trilobozoa.

Haootia quadriformis is an extinct animal belonging to the Ediacaran biota. Estimated to be about 560 million years old, H. quadriformis is identified as a cnidarian polyp, and represents the earliest known evidence for muscle tissue in an animal. Discovered in 2008 from Newfoundland in eastern Canada, it was formally described in 2014. It is the first Ediacaran organism discovered to show fossils of muscle fibres. Structural examination of the muscles and morphology indicate that the animal is a cnidarian, though, which class H. quadriformis belongs to was undetermined until a 2024 study foun

Mawsonites is a fossil genus dating to the Ediacaran Period, from 635–539 million years ago during the Precambrian era. The type species is Mawsonites spriggi. The names derive from South Australian geologists Douglas Mawson and Reg Sprigg.

Lossinia is an extinct organism from the late Ediacaran of Russia. It is a unique proarticulate, and is also a monotypic genus, containing only Lossinia lissetskii.

Marywadea is an extinct proarticulate organism from the late Ediacaran of Australia. Originally described under Spriggina, it is a monotypic genus, containing only Marywadea ovata.

Dipleurozoa (or Dickinsoniomorpha) are extinct proarticulate organisms of the Ediacaran period, which had a flat and more or less ovoid shape. Polychaete worms were treated, however it seems more likely that they were vendobionts. The most representative genus is Dickinsonia, which gives the name to the class (in the case of Dickinsoniomorpha).

Beltanelliformis is a cyanobacterial/putative algae genus of discoid fossil that lived during the Ediacaran period around 635 to 538.8 million years ago. It contains two species, B. brunsae and B. minutae. It is sometimes ascribed to the Ediacaran Biota. Depending on its preservation, it is sometimes referred to as Nemiana or Beltanelloides.

Ediacaria is a nomen dubium fossil genus dating to the Ediacaran Period of the Neoproterozoic Era. Unlike most Ediacaran biota, which disappeared almost entirely from the fossil record at the end of the Period, Ediacaria fossils have been found dating from the Baikalian age (850–650 Ma) of the Upper Riphean to 501 million years ago, well into the Cambrian Period. Ediacaria consists of concentric rough circles, radial lines between the circles and a central dome, with a diameter from 1 to 70 cm.

Dickinsoniidae is a taxon of Ediacaran fossils with an airbed-like quilted morphology, sometimes found in association with bizarre trace fossils. It is placed within the extinct phylum Proarticulata, and contains the defined genera Dickinsonia and probably Windermeria. Phyllozoon is associated with this family, and is thought to represent ichnofossils of Dickinsonia.

Eoandromeda is an Ediacaran organism consisting of eight radial spiral arms, and known from two taphonomic modes: the standard Ediacara type preservation in Australia, and as carbonaceous compressions from the Doushantuo formation of China, where it is abundant.

Burykhia hunti is an Ediacaran fossil from the White Sea region of Russia dating to . It is considered of possibly ascidian affinity, due to the sac-like morphology and a series of distinctly perforated bands reminiscent of a tunicate pharynx. If B. hunti is a tunicate, it could be the oldest ascidian fossil known as of its publication in 2012. It is also possibly related to the slightly younger Ausia, another putative ascidian from the Vendian biota in Namibia.

Armillifera parva is a species of Ediacaran proarticulate first described by Mikhail Fedonkin in 1980. Its fossils were discovered in the White Sea area, Arkhangelsk Region, Russia. These fossils of A. parva were restricted to almost the same stratigraphic range as Kimberella, although fossils of both organisms have been rarely found.

frondose Ediacaran fossil species

Bomakellia is an extinct petalonamid from the Late Ediacaran. It is estimated to have lived some 555 million years ago, and has only been found in the Ustʹ Pinega Formation in Northwestern Russia. Originally described as a primitive arthropod-like creature, more recent studies have seen it placed within the phylum Petalonamae. Bomakellia kelleri is the only species.

Wutubus annularis is a large tubular fossil from the Late Ediacaran of China and USA, between 551 - 541 Ma. It is the only species in the genus Wutubus.