Akrophyllas

Akrophyllas Temporal range: 635–541  Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N Ediacaran
Artist's reconstruction of A. longa.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Genus:	†Akrophyllas Guy M. Narbonne and James G. Gehling, 2023 [1]
Species:	†A. longa
Binomial name
Akrophyllas longa

Akrophyllas (Akros: "at the top" in Greek, Phyllas: "leaf" in Greek) is a genus of Ediacaran petalonamid, known only from the Rawnsley Quartzite in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia.

Specimens were first found from deposits in the Flinders Ranges, and are exclusive to the Rawnsley Quartzite Ediacara Member.

Description

The holotype specimen measures 150 mm long and with a tapering width of 61-45 mm. The largest frond fragment described is 32 cm long and 7.7 cm wide.

Morphology

Artist's reconstruction of A. longa.

Akrophyllas differs from all other Ediacaran fronds; exhibiting a stalk that is visible only on the opposite side of the frond and is internal to the reverse side where the first-order branches instead meet at a zigzag axial trace. Each first-order branch overlaps the distal end of the next branch to form an overlapping array, with each branch gently dipping towards the proximal end of the frond.

See also

• List of Ediacaran genera

References

1. Narbonne, G. M.; Gehling, J. G. (2023). "THEMATIC ISSUE: The Ediacaran System and the Ediacaran-Cambrian Transition". Journal of Paleontology. 98 (2): 1–17.