{{Short description|Genus of animal discovered as an Australian fossil}} {{distinguish|Tunisia}} {{use dmy dates|date=December 2022}} {{use Australian English|date=December 2022}} {{Speciesbox | fossil_range = late Ediacaran<br> ~{{long fossil range|567|555}}{{period fossil range|Neoproterozoic|567|555}} | image = Funisia Reconstruction.png | image_caption = Reconstruction of ''Funisia dorothea'', incl. 'damaged' specimen. | genus = Funisia | parent_authority = Droser & Gehling, 2008 | species = dorothea | authority = Droser & Gehling, 2008 }}
'''''Funisia''''' is a genus of extinct, colonial sponge-like organisms from the late Ediacaran of South Australia and Canada. 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''.
== Discovery and naming == thumb|left|150px|''Funisia'' specimens, as illustrated in the original article.
The fossil material of ''Funisia'' was found in the Ediacara Member of the Rawnsley Quartzite, Nilpena Ediacara National Park, South Australia in 2007, and formally described and named in 2008.<ref name="droser">{{cite journal | journal = Science | date = 21 March 2008 | volume = 319 | issue = 5870 | pages = 1660–1662 | doi = 10.1126/science.1152595 | title = Synchronous Aggregate Growth in an Abundant New Ediacaran Tubular Organism | author1 = Mary L. Droser |author2= James G. Gehling | pmid = 18356525| s2cid = 23002564 }}</ref>
The generic name ''Funisia'' derives directly after the Latin word "rope". The specific name ''dorothea'' is in honour of Dorothy Droser, the mother of Mary L. Droser, one of the scientists who studied the organism.<ref name="times"/> {{Clear left}}
==Description== thumb|left|150px|Size chart of Funisia.
''Funisia'' was a nonmotile, hollow, fluid-filled organism resemblling an upright worm that stood about {{cvt|0.3|m|1}} tall, with a diameter of {{cvt|12|mm|1}}.<ref name="droser"/><ref name="Surprenant2020"/><ref name="physorg">{{cite news | url = http://www.physorg.com/news125241587.html | title = Research shows Earth's earliest animal ecosystem was complex and included sexual reproduction | date = March 20, 2008 }} Source: University of California - Riverside via physorg.com</ref> The body is segmented, consisting of units up to {{cvt|8|mm|1}} in length, and are defined by transverse constrictions in the body. There are also holdfast structures always preserved near body specimens, although never attached to any specimens of ''Funisia'', growing up to {{cvt|8|mm|1}} in width, and may have been placed beneath a microbial mat.<ref name="droser"/> They are also found commonly in large clusters, usually numbering between 5 and 15 individuals of similar sizes, and are usually found laying on top of each other, showing that they did not fall in the direction of the water current, but most likely during storm activity.<ref name="droser"/> Because individuals grew in these dense collections of animals the same age, it is believed to have reproduced sexually, as well as reproduced by budding like modern sponges and corals.<ref name="reuters"/> Although the evolution of sex took place before the origin of animals, and evidence of sexual reproduction is observed in red algae {{Ma|1200}},<ref name=Butterfield2000>{{cite journal| first1 = N. J. | title = ''Bangiomorpha pubescens n. gen., n. sp.'': implications for the evolution of sex, multicellularity, and the Mesoproterozoic/Neoproterozoic radiation of eukaryotes | url = https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/paleobiol/issue/26/3 | access-date = 2021-06-16 | journal = Paleobiology | volume = 26 | issue = 3 | pages = 386–404 | date = 2000-09-01| last1 = Butterfield| issn = 0094-8373 | doi = 10.1666/0094-8373(2000)026<0386:BPNGNS>2.0.CO;2 | s2cid = 36648568 | url-access = subscription }}</ref> ''Funisia'' is one of the oldest known animals for which there is evidence of sexual reproduction.<ref name="physorg"/><ref name="times">{{cite news | url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article3593959.ece | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080727010504/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article3593959.ece | archive-date = 27 July 2008 | date = March 21, 2008 | title = Fossil sheds light on the history of sex | work = The Times | location=London | first=Lewis | last=Smith | access-date=2010-05-03}}</ref><ref name="reuters">{{cite news | url = http://www.enn.com/sci-tech/article/33330 | title = Early life on Earth - no predators, plenty of sex | publisher = Reuters | date=21 March 2008 }}</ref>
When described, a branching specimen was noted, suggesting that ''Funisia'' may have had dichotomous branching,<ref name="droser"/> although a recent study has noted that this is only know from a single specimen out of over 1,000 specimens, and may have been the result of nonlethal damage, and recovering from said damage before burial.<ref name="Surprenant2025">{{cite journal |last1=Surprenant |first1=Rachel L. |last2=Droser |first2=Mary L. |title=A growth model for the highly abundant Ediacaran tubular organism Funisia dorothea |journal=Journal of Paleontology |date=18 June 2025 |pages=1–13 |doi=10.1017/jpa.2025.10095|doi-access=free }}</ref>
This same study also looked at the growth model of ''Funisia'', noting 3 stages: thumb|right|275px|The three growth stages of Funisia dorothea. * '''Stage 1: Establishment of individuals''' The study notes that material of the first stage is non-existent, primarily due to the fact it would be hard to distinguish this stage from a microbial mat texture, and is a hypothetical stage. But, this stage is the settlement of ''Funisia'' as small spheres on top of the microbial mat.<ref name="Surprenant2025"/> * '''Stage 2: Insertion-dominated growth''' This next stage sees the insertion of modular elements, like the segments, into the body with no inflational growth. This is mostly inferred by the smallest specimens of ''Funisia'' having notably long segments, giving a long and narrow morphology. This suggests that for a period of time, insertional growth was favoured over inflational growth, which fits with the suspension feeder interpretation, as the nutrients that ''Funisia'' would require would be further above the microbial mat.<ref name="Surprenant2025"/> * '''Stage 3: Combined insertional and inflational growth''' This final growth stage of ''Funisia'' would see the inflational growth, the widening of the segments, become consistent with the insertional growth. The inflational growth would only increase in rate with the insertion of a new segment, before equalising to the pre-existing inflational growth of the other prior segments to maintain the form of ''Funisia''.<ref name="Surprenant2025"/>
== Taphonomy == Due to the hollow nature of ''Funisia'', it has been found in four modes of preservation. The first, and most common, mode sees the fluid-filled interior empty out completely and deflating of the body, preserving the segments in fine detail, and leaving behind a very sharp margin. The second mode still sees the interior empty out, but uncompressed, causing the segments to rarely preserve, with a varying sharpness of the margin. The third mode sees the interior being filled in, but not to an extent that allows the segments to be preserved at all, and the margin of the specimens are simple parallel lines. The fourth and final mode sees only the trace of ''Funisia'' preserved poorly due to a loss of an internal mold, with tapered terminations, and is most commonly found alongside the second and third modes of preservation. It is noted that one specimen and have multiple modes of preservation at once.<ref name="Surprenant2020">{{cite journal |last1=Surprenant |first1=Rachel L. |last2=Gehling |first2=James G. |last3=Droser |first3=Mary L. |title=BIOLOGICAL AND ECOLOGICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE PRESERVATIONAL VARIABILITY OF FUNISIA DOROTHEA, EDIACARA MEMBER, SOUTH AUSTRALIA |journal=PALAIOS |date=1 September 2020 |volume=35 |issue=9 |pages=359–376 |doi=10.2110/palo.2020.014}}</ref>
The holdfasts of ''Funisia'' are preserved as positive hypo-relief, although are rarely preserved as it may be required to have ''Funisia'' either be severed or completely removed, allowing the holdfast under the microbial mat to be filled in.<ref name="Surprenant2020"/>
== Ecology == Due to its modes of preservation, the ecology of ''Funisia'' had a single lifestyle, being characterised by dense clusters of many individuals over a large area, further supported by the preservation of densely packed holdfasts.<ref name="Surprenant2020"/> This would have helped to stabilise the sediments and influence the preservation of other organisms. Alongside this, due to their great numbers, ''Funisia'' would have greatly sequestrated nutrients and resources from the water, stopping or slowing colonisation of the area from other organisms, even in areas where they are lower in number.<ref name="Surprenant2020"/>
It is noted that on one bed, a mass of preserved ''Funisia'' have motile forms preserved on top, suggesting that this bed shows a whole population of deceased ''Funisia'', now unburied and providing nutrients to other organisms, like ''Dickinsonia'', now living on top of them, facilitating colonisation of the area from other organisms instead.<ref name="Surprenant2020"/>
== Affinities == Its relationship to other animals is unknown, but it may belong within the Porifera (sponges), Cnidaria,<ref name="droser"/> a basal metazoan similar to sponges<ref>D. H. Erwin, M. Laflamme, S., M. Tweedt, E. A. Sperling, D. Pisani, and K. J. Peterson. 2011. The Cambrian Conundrum: Early Divergence and Later Ecological Success in the Early History of Animals. Science 334(6059):1091-1097</ref> or an early varisarcan vendobiont.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cavalier-Smith |first1=Thomas |title=Origin of animal multicellularity: precursors, causes, consequences—the choanoflagellate/sponge transition, neurogenesis and the Cambrian explosion |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |date=5 February 2017 |volume=372 |issue=1713 |article-number=20150476 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2015.0476|pmc=5182410 }}</ref> A recent paper has tentatively supported the placement of ''Funisia'' within Porifera, and also placed it within the newly erected family, Olgunidae, alongside ''Vaveliksia'' and ''Olgunia'', which bare notable similarities with each other from being colonial, having tubular or sac-like bodies rising above the surface of the seafloor, and small attachment disks.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Luzhnaya |first1=E. A. |title=New Vendian Metazoa with Colonial Organization |journal=Paleontological Journal |date=April 2025 |volume=59 |issue=2 |pages=113–118 |doi=10.1134/S0031030125600027}}</ref>
== Distribution == ''Funisia'' is predominately known from the Rawnsley Quartzite in Southern Australia,<ref name="droser"/> although a study published in 2026 has found specimens of ''Funisia'' from the lower layers of the Blueflower Formation in the Northwest Territories of Canada, showing that it had a wider distribution outside of Australia, and appeared much earlier than thought.<ref name="Evans2026">{{cite journal |last1=Evans |first1=Scott D. |last2=Sperling |first2=Erik A. |last3=Lau |first3=Kimberly V. |last4=Strauss |first4=Justin V. |title=Discovery of White Sea assemblage fossils from Laurentia |journal=Science Advances |date=22 May 2026 |volume=12 |issue=21 |doi=10.1126/sciadv.aed9916}}</ref>
==See also== *List of Ediacaran genera
== References == {{reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from1=Q15104340|from2=Q2084726}}
Category:Ediacaran life Category:Enigmatic prehistoric animal genera Category:Prehistoric invertebrates of Australia Category:Fossil taxa described in 2008 Category:Monotypic prehistoric animal genera