''Corumbella'' is an extinct genus of terminal-
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 ...
animal
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Biology, biological Kingdom (biology), kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, ...
s. It is the only genus in the monotypic family Corumbellidae, and is represented by a single species ''Corumbella werneri''.
It possessed a carapace made up of thick polygonal rings
in which plates with pores and papillae
attest to the advent of skeletogenesis in the latest Neoproterozoic
metazoan
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, have myocytes and are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and grow from a ho ...
.
It was sessile and somewhat resembles the later
conulariids
Conulariida are an extinct group of medusozoan cnidarians known from fossils spanning from the latest Ediacaran up until the Late Triassic. They are almost exclusively known from their hard external structures (alternatively referred to as a the ...
,
though this similarity is likely superficial; its secretion of an aragonitic scleritome suggests a eumetazoan affinity.
See also
* ''
Cloudina''
* ''
Saarina''
* ''
Sinotubulites
''Sinotubulites'' is a genus of small, tube-shaped shelly fossils from near the terminal boundary of the Ediacaran period in formations within China and North America. It is often found in association with '' Cloudina'', and much like ''Cloudina ...
''
* ''
Somatohelix''
List of Ediacaran genera
The existence of life, especially that of animals, before the Cambrian had long been the subject of debate in paleontology. The apparent suddenness of the Cambrian explosion had no firm explanation, and Charles Darwin himself recognized the chal ...
References
Monotypic prehistoric cnidarian genera
Scyphozoa
Ediacaran life
Fossil taxa described in 1982
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