{{Short description|Extinct genus of marine invertebrates}} {{Speciesbox | fossil_range = Late Ediacaran<br> ~{{fossil range|555}} | image = Vendoconularia_3D_Reconstruction.png | image_caption = 3D reconstruction of ''Vendoconularia triradiata'' | genus = Vendoconularia | parent_authority = Ivantsov & Fedonkin, 2002 | species = triradiata | authority = Ivantsov & Fedonkin, 2002 }}
'''''Vendoconularia''''' is a genus of Ediacaran organism consisting of a hexagonal cone, which is thought to have housed a tentaculate organism. Three longitudinal bands are interspersed between the six sides of the cone.<ref name=Ivantsov2002>{{Cite journal| first = A. Y.| last2 = Fedonkin| first2 = M. A.| url = http://vend.paleo.ru/pub/Ivantsov_Fedonkin_2002.pdf| last = Ivantsov| title = Conulariid-like fossil from the Vendian of Russia: a metazoan clade across the Proterozoic/Palaeozoic boundary| format = Free full text| journal = Palaeontology| volume = 45| issue = 6| pages = 1119–1129| year = 2002| doi = 10.1111/1475-4983.00283| url-status=dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160128075232/http://vend.paleo.ru/pub/Ivantsov_Fedonkin_2002.pdf| archive-date = 2016-01-28| doi-access = free}}</ref><ref name="De2005">{{Cite journal| last1 = Van Iten| last4= Guimaraes Simoes | first1 = H.| last3=Coelho Rodrigues| last2=De Moraes Leme| first2 = J. | first3 = S. | first4 = M.| title = Reinterpretation of a Conulariid-Like Fossil from the Vendian of Russia| journal = Palaeontology| volume = 48| issue = 3| pages = 619–622| year = 2005| doi = 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2005.00471.x| hdl= 11449/31655 | hdl-access = free}}</ref> The discovery of vendoconulariids in Proterozoic strata of Russia confirmed a 1987 prediction that conulariids constituted part of Ediacaran biota.<ref name="McMenaminConular1987">{{ cite journal | date=1987 | title=The fate of the Ediacaran fauna, the nature of conulariids, and the basal Paleozoic predator revolution | journal=Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs | author=McMenamin, M. A. S. | volume=19 | issue=1 | pages=29 }}</ref>
== Discovery and name == The holotype fossil of ''Vendoconularia'' was found from the Ust’ Pinega Formation, in the White Sea of Russia in 1997, and formally described in 2002.<ref name=Ivantsov2002/>
The generic name ''Vendoconularia'' derives from ''Vendian'', the Russian name for the Ediacaran; and the genus name ''conularia'', due to its similar appearance to conulariids. The specific name ''triradiata'' derives from the English word ''triradiate'', to mean ''three radiating folds''.<ref name=Ivantsov2002/>
== Description == thumb|left|200px|Size chart of ''Vendoconularia triradiate''.
''Vendoconularia triradiate'' is a probable conulariid, getting up to {{cvt|54|mm|1}} in length and {{cvt|33|mm|1}} at its widest, with a conical test consisting of six identical sides with three longitudinal bands in between two sides each, although known conulariids only have fourfold symmetry. The test itself would have been non-mineralised and flexible in life, which again, is unheard of in known conulariid genera.<ref name=Ivantsov2002/>
A more recent study done on both ''Vendoconularia'' and ''Protechiurus'' by Ivanstov et al., 2019 recovered both as being related to each other under the newly erected family Protechiuridae, and also suggested that the aforementioned family is possibly either ancestral to the clade Conulariida, or to the anabaritids.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ivantsov |first1=A. Yu. |last2=Vickers-Rich |first2=P. |last3=Zakrevskaya |first3=M. A. |last4=Hall |first4=M. |title=Conical Thecae of Precambrian Macroorganisms |journal=Paleontological Journal |date=December 2019 |volume=53 |issue=11 |pages=1134–1146 |doi=10.1134/S0031030119110054}}</ref> Subsequent studies done after have noted that whilst a more detailed analysis is needed for ''Protechiurus'' to confidentially place it next to ''Vendoconularia'' phylogenetically, it does give further support for ''Vendoconularia'' (and ''Protechiurus'') being stem-group conulariids.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sarsembaev |first1=Zhiger A. |last2=Marusin |first2=Vasiliy V. |title=Nonmineralized triradial conulariids from the lowermost Cambrian Stage 2 of the Olenek Uplift, Siberian Platform |journal=Journal of Paleontology |date=July 2022 |volume=96 |issue=4 |pages=791–802 |doi=10.1017/jpa.2022.21}}</ref>
==See also== * List of Ediacaran genera
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q7919623|from2=Q131693368}}
Category:Ediacaran life Category:Monotypic prehistoric cnidarian genera Category:Enigmatic prehistoric animal genera Category:Fossil taxa described in 2002