''Swartpuntia'' is a monospecific

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

erniettomorph The Erniettomorphs are a form of Ediacaran fossil consisting of rows of airbed-like tubes arranged along a midline with a glide symmetry. Representative genera include ''Ernietta'', '' Phyllozoon'', ''Pteridinium'', ''Swartpuntia''. Undisputed E ...

from the terminal

Ediacaran The Ediacaran Period ( ) is a geological period that spans 96 million years from the end of the Cryogenian Period 635 million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Cambrian Period 538.8 Mya. It marks the end of the Proterozoic Eon, and t ...

period, with at least three quilted, leaf-shaped petaloids — probably five or six. The petaloids comprise vertical sheets of tubes filled with sand. ''Swartpuntia'' specimens range in length from 12 to 19 cm, and in width from 11.5 to 140 cm. The margin is serrated, with a 1 mm wide groove. A 14 mm wide stem extends down the middle, tapering towards the top, and stopping 25 mm from the tip. The stem has a V shaped ornamentation on it. The original

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s were found at, and named after, the Swartpunt farm between Aus and Rosh Pinah in

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. The generic name comes from ''Swartpunt'', meaning ''black point'' in reference to the colour of the rocks. The specific name ''germsi'' honours Gerard Germs, who studied the Nama formation of geological beds. They are preserved in sandstone beds in the Spitzkopf Member from the Nama formation, which lie above an ash bed dated at 543±1 million years old, and occur until the very end of the Ediacaran beds in this locality (Narbonne ''et al.'' 1997): the start of the

Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million years ago ...

period is dated . Whilst ''Swartpuntia'' has since been found in south-western

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

and the Carolina Terrane of

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

, it does not appear to have had a global distribution — indeed, its seemingly limited range has been used to provide palæogeographical reconstruction (Hagadorn & Waggonner 2000). The shape of ''Swartpuntia'' resembles other Ediacaran fronds '' Pteridinium'' and ''

Charniodiscus ''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 ...

'', both fronds with alternating segments; the segments' microstructure resembles that of ''

Dickinsonia ''Dickinsonia'' is an extinct genus of basal animal that lived during the late Ediacaran period in what is now Australia, China, Russia and Ukraine. The individual ''Dickinsonia'' typically resembles a bilaterally symmetrical ribbed oval. Its a ...

''. This combination of features suggests close relationships between the

Ediacaran biota The Ediacaran (; formerly Vendian) biota is a taxonomic period classification that consists of all life forms that were present on Earth during the Ediacaran Period (). These were composed of enigmatic tubular and frond-shaped, mostly sess ...

, and lends credence to their membership of a separate phylum ( Seilacher's Vendobionta).

Mark McMenamin Mark A. S. McMenamin (born c. 1957) is an American paleontologist and professor of geology at Mount Holyoke College. He has contributed to the study of the Cambrian explosion and the Ediacaran biota. He is the author of several books, most re ...

has inferred a photosymbiotic lifestyle for ''Swartpuntia,'' and this seems likely considering its shallow water habitat, tree-like shape and lack of apparent heterotrophic feeding structures.

References

* * Free access. {{Taxonbar, from=Q3978593 Ediacaran life Ediacaran North America Fossils of Australia Fossils of Namibia Fossils of Russia Fossils of the United States Fossil taxa described in 1997

See also

References