''Vendoconularia'' is a genus of
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 ...
organism consisting of a
hexagon
In geometry, a hexagon (from Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°.
Regular hexagon
A regular hexagon is de ...
al cone, which is thought to have housed a
tentaculate organism. Three longitudinal bands are interspersed between the six sides of the cone.
The discovery of vendoconulariids in
Proterozoic
The Proterozoic ( ) is the third of the four geologic eons of Earth's history, spanning the time interval from 2500 to 538.8 Mya, and is the longest eon of Earth's geologic time scale. It is preceded by the Archean and followed by the Phanerozo ...
strata of
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
confirmed a 1987 prediction that
conulariids constituted part of
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 ...
.
Discovery and name
The
holotype
A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...
fossil of ''Vendoconularia'' was found from the
Ust’ Pinega Formation, in the White Sea of Russia in 1997, and formally described in 2002.
[
The generic name ''Vendoconularia'' derives from ''Vendian'', the Russian name for the Ediacaran; and the genus name ''conularia'', due to its similar appearance to conulariids. The specific name ''triradiata'' derives from the English word ''triradiate'', to mean ''three radiating folds''.][
]
Description
''Vendoconularia triradiate'' is a probable Conulariid, growing up to in height, with a conical test consisting of six identical sides with three longitudinal bands in between two sides each, although known conulariids only have fourfold symmetry. The test itself would have been non-mineralised and flexible in life, which again, is unheard of in known conulariid genera.[
A more recent study done on both ''Vendoconularia'' and '' Protechiurus'' by Ivanstov et al., 2019 recovered both as being related to each other under the newly erected class Protechiuridae, and also suggested that the aforementioned class is possibly either ancestral to the clade Conulariida, or to the family Anabaritid. Subsequent studies done after have noted that whilst a more detailed analysis is needed for ''Protechiurus'' to confidentially place it next to ''Vendoconularia'' phylogenetically, it does give further support for''Vendoconularia'' (and ''Protechiurus'') being stem-group conulariids.]
See also
* 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
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7919623, from2=Q131693368
Ediacaran life
Monotypic prehistoric cnidarian genera
Enigmatic prehistoric animal genera
Fossil taxa described in 2002