{{Short description|Genus of cnidarians}} {{Other uses|Ediacara (disambiguation){{!}}Ediacara}} {{More footnotes needed|date=February 2020}}
{{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = {{long fossil range|Tonian|Drumian}} | image = Ediacara_Conservation_Park_Ediacaria_flindersi.png | image_alt = | image_caption = | taxon = Ediacaria | authority = Sprigg, 1947 | synonyms = *''Protodipleurosoma'' <small>Sprigg, 1949</small><ref>{{IRMNG|1235848|''Ediacaria'' Sprigg, 1947|17 April 2019}}</ref> | synonyms_ref = | type_species = ''Ediacaria flindersi'' | type_species_authority = Sprigg, 1947 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = *''Ediacaria booleyi'' <small>Crimes et al., 1995</small><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Crimes|first1=T.P.|last2=Insole|first2=A.|last3=Williams|first3=B.P.J.|year=1995|title=A rigid-bodied Ediacaran biota from Upper Cambrian strata in Co. Wexford, Éire|journal=Geological Journal|volume=30|issue=2|pages=89–109|doi=10.1002/gj.3350300202}}</ref> (biogenic?)<ref>{{cite journal |last1=MacGabhann |first1=B. A. |last2=Murray |first2=J. |last3=Nicholas |first3=C. |title=Ediacaria booleyi: weeded from the Garden of Ediacara? |journal=Geological Society, London, Special Publications |date=January 2007 |volume=286 |issue=1 |pages=277–295 |doi=10.1144/SP286.20}}</ref> *''Ediacaria flindersi'' <small>Sprigg, 1947</small> }}
'''''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<ref name=Nagovitsin2008>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1134/S1028334X0803015X | author = K. E. Nagovitsin |author2=D. V. Grazhdankin |author3=B. B. Kochnev | year = 2008 | title = ''Ediacaria'' in the Siberian Hypostratotype of the Riphean | journal = Doklady Earth Sciences | volume = 419A | issue = 3 | pages = 423–427 |bibcode = 2008DokES.419..423N | s2cid = 128480971 }}</ref> 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.
== Systematics and taxonomy == ''Ediacaria'' was named by Reg Sprigg in 1947, after the Ediacara Hills in South Australia.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://aussieheritage.com.au/listings/sa/Parachilna/EdiacaraFossilSite-Nilpena/9895|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080804004859/http://aussieheritage.com.au/listings/sa/Parachilna/EdiacaraFossilSite-Nilpena/9895|url-status=dead|archive-date=2008-08-04|title=Ediacara Fossil Site - Nilpena, Parachilna, SA Profile|date=2008-08-04|access-date=2017-10-27}}</ref> Two species are recognised: ''E. flindersi'', described by Sprigg from the Pound Quartzite in the Ediacara Hills, and ''E. booleyi'', described in 1995 from a Late Cambrian deposit at Booley Bay (County Wexford), Ireland. The species were named after the Flinders Ranges and Booley Bay, respectively.
''Ediacaria'' is possibly a synonym for ''Aspidella terranovica'' described in 1872. Although ''Ediacaria'' is one of the first described organisms from the Precambrian, ''Aspidella'' was described earlier, although its age was not understood to be Precambrian. As ''Aspidella'' is apparently a form taxon, ''Ediacaria'' may yet be valid and denote one specific genus among several that seem to make up ''Aspidella''. ''Spriggia wadea'' is quite likely a synonym of ''Ediacaria'' (and consequently, possibly ''Aspidella''); the differences seem to be merely due to different substrate in which the animals were embedded. (Gehling ''et al.'' 2000)
''Ediacaria'' was often classified as a jellyfish (a Scyphozoan Cnidarian), and has also been interpreted in many of the categories postulated to house the Ediacaran biota. A conspicuous filamentous microstructure preserved in some pyritised specimens suggests that it may have been a microbial colony, which disrupted the surrounding microbial mat to create the distinctive pattern (Grazhdankin, 2007).
==See also== * List of Ediacaran genera
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Notes== * {{cite journal|last1=Gehling|first1=James G.|last2=Narbonne|first2=Guy M.|last3=Anderson|first3=Michael M.|year=2000|title=The first named Ediacaran body fossil, ''Aspidella terranovica''|journal=Palaeontology|volume=43|issue=3|pages=427–456|doi=10.1111/j.0031-0239.2000.00134.x}} * {{cite conference|last=Grazhdankin|first=D.|date=8 November 2001|title=Microbial origin of some of the Ediacaran fossils|conference=GSA Annual Meeting, November 5–8, 2001|place=Boston, Massachusetts|article-number=Paper 177-0|time=2:45 PM|url=https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2001AM/finalprogram/abstract_21602.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140911063210/https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2001AM/finalprogram/abstract_21602.htm|archive-date=11 September 2014}} * {{cite journal|last1=Grazhdankin|first1=D.|last2=Gerdes|first2=G.|year=2007|title=Ediacaran microbial colonies|journal=Lethaia|volume=40|issue=3|pages=201–210|doi=10.1111/j.1502-3931.2007.00025.x}} * {{cite conference|last1=Lindsley-Griffin|first1=Nancy|last2=Griffin|first2=John R.|last3=Farmer|first3=Jack D.|date=9 May 2006|title=Paleogeographic links between Yreka Terrane (Klamath Mountains, Northern California) and Alaska's Nixon Fork and Alexander Terranes|conference=102nd Annual Meeting of the Cordilleran Section, GSA, 81st Annual Meeting of the Pacific Section, AAPG, and the Western Regional Meeting of the Alaska Section, SPE (8–10 May 2006)|place=Anchorage, Alaska|article-number=Paper 24-6|time=3:30 PM-3:50 PM|url=http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2006CD/finalprogram/abstract_104214.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204050525/http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2006CD/finalprogram/abstract_104214.htm |archive-date=2012-02-04 }} * {{cite journal|last=Pickerill|first=R.K.|year=1982|title=Cambrian Medusoids from the St. John Group, southwestern New Brunswick|journal=Geological Survey of Canada Current Research Part B|volume=82|issue=1|pages=71–76}} * {{cite journal|last=Sprigg|first=R.C.|year=1947|title=Early Cambrian(?) Jellyfishes from the Flinders Ranges, South Australia|journal=Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia|volume=71|pages=212–224|url=http://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/Journals/TRSSA/TRSSA_v071/trssa_v071_p212p224.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929092905/http://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/Journals/TRSSA/TRSSA_v071/trssa_v071_p212p224.pdf|archive-date=29 September 2007}} * {{cite journal|last=Stasinska|first=A.|year=1960|title=''Velumbrella czarnockii'' n. gen., n. sp. - Meduse du Cambrien Inferieur des Monts de Sainte-Croix|journal=Acta Palaeontologica Polonica|volume=5|pages=337–346}} * {{aut|Vanguestaine, Michel & Brück, Peter}} (2005): A Middle Cambrian age for the Ediacara-type fauna from the Booley Bay Formation, County Wexford, Ireland: new acritarch data and their implications. ''In:'' {{aut|Steemans, P. & Javaux, E.}} (eds.): Pre-Cambrian to Palaeozoic Palaeopalynology and Palaeobotany. ''Carnets de Géologie / Notebooks on Geology'', Memoir 2005/02, Abstract 11 [http://paleopolis.rediris.es/cg/CG2005_M02/CG2005_M02_Abstract11.pdf PDF fulltext] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303181941/http://paleopolis.rediris.es/cg/CG2005_M02/CG2005_M02_Abstract11.pdf |date=2016-03-03 }}
==Further reading== * {{cite book|first1=M. A.|last1=Fedonkin|first2=J. G.|last2=Gehling|first3=K.|last3=Grey|first4=G. M.|last4=Narbonne|first5=P.|last5=Vickers-Rich|year=2007|title=The rise of animals: Evolution and diversification of the Kingdom Animalia|publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press|place=Baltimore, MD}}
==External links== * Peripatus Home Page: [https://web.archive.org/web/20060502162112/http://www.peripatus.gen.nz/Paleontology/EdiSur.html Ediacaran Survivors]. Version of 2006-MAY-10. Retrieved 2007-JUN-06.
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Category:Tonian life Category:Cryogenian life Category:Ediacaran life Category:Cambrian life Category:Fossils of Australia Category:Scyphozoa Category:Fossil taxa described in 1947