Charnia is an extinct genus of frond-like lifeforms belonging to the Ediacaran biota with segmented, leaf-like ridges branching alternately to the right and left from a zig-zag medial suture. The genus Charnia was named after Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire, England, where the first fossilised specimen was found; the species name after Roger Mason, a schoolboy who found it. Charnia is significant because it was the first Precambrian fossil to be recognized as such.
Kimberella is an extinct genus of 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.
Vendobionts or Vendozoans (Vendobionta) are a proposed very high-level, extinct clade of benthic organisms that made up of the majority of the organisms that were part of the Ediacaran biota. It is a hypothetical group. It would be the oldest of the animals that populated the Earth about 580 million years ago, in the Ediacaran period. They became extinct shortly after the so-called Cambrian explosion, with the introduction of fauna forming groups more recognizably related to modern animals, however sponges may be descended from this clade. It is likely that the whole Ediacaran biota is not a monophyletic clade and not every genus placed in its subtaxa is an animal.
Yorgia waggoneri is a discoid Ediacaran organism. It has a low, segmented body consisting of a short wide "head", no appendages, and a long body region, reaching a maximum length of 25 cm (9.8 in). It is classified within the extinct animal phylum Proarticulata.
Parvancorina is a genus of shield-shaped bilaterally symmetrical fossil animal that lived in the late Ediacaran seafloor. It has some superficial similarities with the Cambrian trilobite-like arthropods.
Ovatoscutum concentricum is one of many enigmatic organisms known from the Ediacaran deposits of the Flinders Ranges, Australia, and the White Sea area in Russia, dating around 555 Ma.
The Ediacaranbiota 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, organisms. Trace fossils of these organisms have been found worldwide, and represent the earliest known complex multicellular organisms. The term "Ediacara biota" has received criticism from some scientists due to its alleged inconsistency, arbitrary exclusion of certain fossils, and inability to be precisely defined.
Proarticulata is a proposed phylum of extinct, near-bilaterally symmetrical animals known from fossils found in the Ediacaran (Vendian) marine deposits, and dates to approximately 567 to 550 million years ago. The name comes from the Greek προ = "before" and Articulata, i.e. prior to animals with true segmentation such as annelids and arthropods. This phylum was established by Mikhail A. Fedonkin in 1985 for such animals as Dickinsonia, Vendia, Cephalonega, Praecambridium and currently many other Proarticulata are described.
Vendiamorpha is a class of extinct animals within the Ediacaran phylum Proarticulata.
Palaeophragmodictya is an extinct genus of sponge-grade organisms from the Ediacaran Period. Originally interpreted as a hexactinellid sponge, the organism also bears some coelomate characteristics, including bilateral symmetry.
Andiva ivantsovi is a Vendian fossil, identified to be a bilaterian triploblastic animal in the Ediacaran phylum Proarticulata, known from the Winter Coast, White Sea, Russia. It was first discovered in 1977, and described as a new species in a new genus by Mikhail Fedonkin in 2002. It lived about 555 million years ago. Fossils of Andiva also occur in South Australia. All known fossils of Andiva are external molds.
Haootia quadriformis is an extinct animal belonging to the Ediacaran biota. Estimated to be about 560 million years old, H. quadriformis is identified as a cnidarian polyp, and represents the earliest known evidence for muscle tissue in an animal. Discovered in 2008 from Newfoundland in eastern Canada, it was formally described in 2014. It is the first Ediacaran organism discovered to show fossils of muscle fibres. Structural examination of the muscles and morphology indicate that the animal is a cnidarian, though, which class H. quadriformis belongs to was undetermined until a 2024 study found it to be a staurozoan.
Palaeoplatoda is a genus from the Ediacaran biota. It is a soft-bodied organism with a segmented body that resembles Dickinsonia, another Ediacaran organism.
Cyanorus singularis is a small proarticulatan, closely related to Spriggina and Marywadea. The anterior part of the body was most likely not segmented. The axial structure of it combines features of the Vendia species and Dickinsonia species. It was found in the Upper Vendian of the White Sea area, Arkhangel'sk Region. It is a White Sea Ediacaran fossil and it became extinct during the Late Precambrian.
Archaeaspinus fedonkini is an extinct proarticulatan organism from the Late Precambrian (Ediacaran) period.
Temnoxa molluscula is a small creature approximately 8 mm wide found in the Ediacaran period in Russia. The Temnoxa has a resemblance to a vertically cut penny bun mushroom. Due to the lack of information regarding the fossils of this organism, researchers are unable to place Temnoxa molluscula into any known phylum. The genus was originally discovered by Russian paleontologist Andrey Yu. Ivantsov in 2004.
Cephalozoa are an extinct class of primitive segmented marine organisms within the Phylum Proarticulata from the Ediacaran period. They possessed bilateral symmetry and were characterized by a thin, rounded body.
Podolimirus is an extinct monotypic genus of unclassified proarticulates. It presents a single species, Podolimirus mirus. It was found in strata of the late Ediacaran, at the beginning of the Cambrian. It is one of the last proarticulates. The first fossils of this genus and species were found in the Ukraine along the Dneister River close by to the deposits in the Vendian Sequence in 1983.
Mamsetia manunis is an extinct cnidarian from the late Ediacaran. Estimated to be about 565 million years old, M. manunis is identified as a cnidarian polyp, and represents some of the earliest known evidence for muscle tissue in an animal. Its fossil was discovered in 2014 from Newfoundland in eastern Canada, and was formally described in 2024 as a staurozoan based on examination of its overall morphology and structure.
