''Swartpuntia'' is a monospecific

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 bino ...

of erniettomorph from the 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 ...

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 preserve ...

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 on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

. 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 ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordov ...

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

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

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. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, 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 A frond is a large, divided leaf. In both common usage and botanical nomenclature, the leaves of ferns are referred to as fronds and some botanists restrict the term to this group. Other botanists allow the term frond to also apply to the lar ...

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

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 f ...

''. 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 enigmatic tubular and frond-shaped, mostly sessile, organis ...

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

photosymbiotic Photosymbiosis is a type of symbiosis where one of the organisms is capable of photosynthesis. Examples of photosymbiotic relationships include those in lichens, plankton, ciliates, and many marine organisms including corals, fire corals, giant ...

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