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Uncus Dzaugisi
''Uncus dzaugisi'' was a species of animal which lived approximately 560 to 550million years ago during the late Ediacaran in what is now Southern Australia. Its smooth cylindrical shape, with one end being wider than the other, suggests that it was a member of the clade Ecdysozoa (a group containing arthropods, nematodes and tardigrades, amongst others). This makes it the oldest ecdysozoan known so far, as well as one of the oldest known bilaterians. It is currently the only member of the genus ''Uncus''. Discovery and name The systematic excavation that led to the discovery of ''Uncus'' began in 2018 in the Ediacara Member, a Stratigraphic unit, rock unit of the Rawnsley Quartzite within the Nilpena Ediacara National Park, South Australia, which is known for its well preserved Ediacaran biota, Ediacaran fossils. During the excavation, the team, led by Mary Droser, noted the presence of deep, hook-shaped indentations in the rock. At first, they were not looked into with much ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ediacaran
The Ediacaran ( ) is a geological period of the Neoproterozoic geologic era, Era that spans 96 million years from the end of the Cryogenian Period at 635 Million years ago, Mya to the beginning of the Cambrian Period at 538.8 Mya. It is the last period of the Proterozoic geologic eon, Eon as well as the last of the so-called "Precambrian supereon", before the beginning of the subsequent Cambrian Period marks the start of the Phanerozoic Eon, where recognizable fossil evidence of life becomes common. The Ediacaran Period is named after the Ediacara Hills of South Australia, where trace fossils of a diverse community of previously unrecognized lifeforms (later named the Ediacaran biota) were first discovered by geologist Reg Sprigg in 1946. Its status as an official geological period was ratified in 2004 by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), making it the first new geological period declared in 120 years. Although the period took namesake from the Ediacara Hills ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus. :E.g. ''Panthera leo'' (lion) and ''Panthera onca'' (jaguar) are two species within the genus ''Panthera''. ''Panthera'' is a genus within the family Felidae. The composition of a genus is determined by taxonomy (biology), taxonomists. The standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, so different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. There are some general practices used, however, including the idea that a newly defined genus should fulfill these three criteria to be descriptively useful: # monophyly – all descendants of an ancestral taxon are grouped together (i.e. Phylogeneti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kimberella
''Kimberella'' is an extinct genus of marine bilaterian known only from rocks of the Ediacaran period. The slug-like organism fed by scratching the microbial surface on which it dwelt in a manner similar to the gastropods, although its affinity with this group is contentious. Specimens were first found in Australia's Ediacara Hills, but recent research has concentrated on the numerous finds near the White Sea in Russia, which cover an interval of time from . As with many Ediacara biota, fossils from this time, its evolutionary relationships to other organisms are hotly debated. 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 a radula have been interpreted as signs that it may have been a mollusc. Although some paleontologists dispute its classification as a mollusc, it is generally accepted as being at least a bilaterian. The classification of ''Ki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spriggina
''Spriggina'' is a genus of early animals whose relationship to living animals is unclear. Fossils of ''Spriggina'' are known from the late Ediacaran period in what is now South Australia. ''Spriggina floundersi'' is the official fossil emblem of South Australia; it has been found nowhere else. The organism reached in length and may have been predation, predatory. Its bottom was covered with two rows of tough interlocking plates, while one row covered its top; its front few segments fused to form a "head." The affinity of ''Spriggina'' is unknown; it has been variously classified as an annelid worm, a rangeomorph-like frond, a variant of ''Charniodiscus'', a proarticulatan, an arthropod (perhaps related to the trilobites), or even an extinct phylum. The lack of known segmented legs or limbs, coupled with the presence of glide reflection instead of symmetry, symmetric segments, suggests that an arthropod classification is unlikely despite some superficial resemblance. The genu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GSA Today
The Geological Society of America (GSA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the geosciences. History The society was founded in Ithaca, New York, in 1888 by Alexander Winchell, John J. Stevenson, Charles H. Hitchcock, John R. Procter and Edward Orton and has been headquartered at 3300 Penrose Place, Boulder, Colorado, US, since 1967. GSA began with 100 members under its first president, James Hall. In 1889 Mary Emilie Holmes became its first female member. It grew slowly but steadily to 600 members until 1931, when a nearly $4 million endowment from 1930 president R. A. F. Penrose Jr. jumpstarted GSA's growth. As of December 2017, GSA had more than 25,000 members in over 100 countries. The society has six regional sections in North America, three interdisciplinary interest groups, and eighteen specialty divisions. Activities The stated mission of GSA is "to advance geoscience research and discovery, service to society, stewardship of Ear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sandstone
Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar, because they are the most resistant minerals to the weathering processes at the Earth's surface. Like uncemented sand, sandstone may be imparted any color by impurities within the minerals, but the most common colors are tan, brown, yellow, red, grey, pink, white, and black. Because sandstone beds can form highly visible cliffs and other topography, topographic features, certain colors of sandstone have become strongly identified with certain regions, such as the red rock deserts of Arches National Park and other areas of the Southwestern United States, American Southwest. Rock formations composed of sandstone usually allow the p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quartzite
Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock that was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts, and hence quartzite is a metasandstone. Pure quartzite is usually white to grey, though quartzites often occur in various shades of pink and red due to varying amounts of hematite. Other colors, such as yellow, green, blue and orange, are due to other minerals. The term ''quartzite'' is also sometimes used for very hard but unmetamorphosed sandstones that are composed of quartz grains thoroughly cemented with additional quartz. Such sedimentary rock has come to be described as orthoquartzite to distinguish it from metamorphic quartzite, which is sometimes called metaquartzite to emphasize its metamorphic origins. Quartzite is very resistant to chemical weathering and often forms ridges and resist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dickinsonia
''Dickinsonia'' is a genus of extinct organism that lived during the late Ediacaran period in what is now Australia, China, Russia, and Ukraine. It had a round, bilaterally symmetric body with multiple segments running along it. It could range from a few millimeters to over a meter in length, and likely lived in shallow waters, feeding on the microbial mats that dominated the seascape at the time. As a member of the Ediacaran biota, its relationships to other organisms has been heavily debated. It was initially proposed to be a jellyfish, and over the years has been claimed to be a land-dwelling lichen, placozoan, or even a giant protist. Currently, the most popular interpretation is that it was a seafloor dwelling animal, perhaps a primitive stem group bilaterian, although this is still contentious. Among other Ediacaran organisms, it shares a close resemblance to other segmented forms like '' Vendia'', Yorgia and '' Spriggina'' and has been proposed to be a member of the ph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Funisia
''Funisisa'' is a genus of extinct, colonial sponge-like organisms from the late Ediacaran of South Australia. It is a monotypic genus, containing only ''Funisisa dorothea''. Discovery and naming 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. The generic name ''Funisia'' is after the Latin "rope", and is pronounced to rhyme with Tunisia. The name ''dorothea'' is in honour of Dorothy Droser, the mother of Mary L. Droser, one of the scientists who studied the organism. Description ''Funisia'' was a nonmotile organism resembling an upright worm that stood about tall. Source: University of California - Riverside via physorg.com Because individuals grew in 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. Although the evolution ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ichnotaxon
An ichnotaxon (plural ichnotaxa) is "a taxon based on the fossilized work of an organism", i.e. the non-human equivalent of an artifact. ''Ichnotaxon'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''íchnos'') meaning "track" and English , itself derived from Ancient Greek (''táxis'') meaning "ordering".Definition o'ichno'at dictionary.com. Ichnotaxa are names used to identify and distinguish morphologically distinctive ichnofossils, more commonly known as trace fossils (fossil records of lifeforms' movement, rather than of the lifeforms themselves). They are assigned genus and species ranks by ichnologists, much like organisms in Linnaean taxonomy. These are known as ichnogenera and ichnospecies, respectively. "Ichnogenus" and "ichnospecies" are commonly abbreviated as "igen." and "isp.". The binomial names of ichnospecies and their genera are to be written in italics. Most researchers classify trace fossils only as far as the ichnogenus rank, based upon trace fossils that resemble eac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sessility (motility)
Sessility is the biological property of an animal describing its lack of a means of self-locomotion. Sessile animals for which natural ''motility'' is absent are normally immobile. This is distinct from the botanical concept of sessility, which refers to an organism or biological structure attached directly by its base without a stalk. Sessile animals can move via external forces (such as water currents), but are usually permanently attached to something. Organisms such as corals lay down their own substrate from which they grow. Other organisms grow from a solid object, such as a rock, a dead tree trunk, or a human-made object such as a buoy or ship's hull. Mobility Sessile animals typically have a motile phase in their development. Sponges have a motile larval stage and become sessile at maturity. Conversely, many jellyfish develop as sessile polyps early in their life cycle. In the case of the cochineal, it is in the nymph stage (also called the crawler stage) that the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
