Protonympha Temporal range: | |
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Holotype specimen of Protonympha salicifolia from the Late Devonian (Frasnian) Gardeau Sandstone near Naples, New York | |
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Holotype specimen of Protonympha transversa from the Middle Devonian (Givetian) Moscow Formation near Summit, New York | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Clade: | Bilateria |
Genus: | † Protonympha Clarke 1903 |
Species[ citation needed ] | |
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Protonympha is a form genus for problematic fossils of Devonian age in New York. It has been of special interest because of its morphological similarity with the iconic Ediacaran fossil Spriggina , and may have been a late surviving vendobiont. [1]
Protonympha is a flat, quilted fossil, which has previously been compared with the arm of a starfish or an annelid worm, but lacks a segmented carapace or stereom. Its preservation in sandstone is similar to Ediacaran type preservations. [2] A less-accepted hypothesis claims the organisms were terrestrial fossils like lichen, with hypothetically interpreted rhizoid-like extensions as possible evidence it may have lived on land or in shallow pools. [1]