Kimberella quadrata
Glaessner,Wade,1966
Late Ediacaran (Vendian)
White Sea, Russia

Kimberella is an extinct genus of bilaterian. The slug-like organism fed by scratching the microbial surface on which it dwelt in a manner similar to the gastropods. Paleontologists initially classified Kimberella as a type of Cubozoan, but since 1997 features of its anatomy and its association with scratch marks resembling those made by molluscs teeth have been interpreted as signs that it may have been a mollusc.

Systematica: Coelenterata-> phylum Cnidaria-> class Cubozoa-> order Carybdeida (Gegenbaur, 1857)-> Kimberella quadrata (Glaessner,Wade,1966)

Locality: Russia-> Arkhangelsk region-> Winter Coast-> Erga stream

TimeScale: Proterozoic (2500-541 MA)-> Neoproterozoic (1000-541 MA)-> Ediacaran(635-541 MA)-> Belomorian stage (558-550,2 MA)

Geology: Russia-> Southeast White Sea Area-> Yorga fm. (550.2 - ..MA)-> Kimberella layers (lower part of Yorga fm.)

Body contour length about 6,4cm, body contour width about 2,5cm

Good preservation. Has small reconstruction approx. 2%

Acquisition: 2019-05-31

Ediacarian

Ediacarian is the last period of the precambrian. It is named after the Ediacara Hills of South Australia, where the first fossils of this era were found in 1947. The Ediacaran marks the first appearance of widespread multicellular fauna following the end of "Snowball Earth" glaciation events. Ediacaran biota is quite enigmatic. It is represented by a few modern groups of animals but also by now-extinct relatively simple animal with strange forms and shapes.