Dickinsonia is a genus of extinct organism, most likely an animal, that lived during the late Ediacaran period in what is now Australia, China, Russia and Ukraine. It is one of the best known members of the Ediacaran biota. The individual Dickinsonia typically resembles a bilaterally symmetrical ribbed oval. Its affinities are presently unknown; its mode of growth has been considered consistent with a stem-group bilaterian affinity, though various other affinities have been proposed. The discovery of cholesterol molecules in fossils of Dickinsonia lends support to the idea that Dickinsonia was an animal, though these results have been questioned.
Hiemalora is a fossil of the Ediacaran biota, reaching around 3 cm in diameter, which superficially resembles a sea anemone. The genus has a sack-like body with faint radiating lines originally interpreted as tentacles, but discovery of a frond-like structure seemingly attached to some Heimalora has added weight to a competing interpretation: that it represents the holdfast of a larger organism.
Trilobozoa is a phylum of extinct, sessile animals that were originally classified into the Cnidaria. The basic body plan of trilobozoans is often a tri-radial or radial sphere-shaped form with lobes radiating from its centre. Fossils of trilobozoans are restricted to marine strata of the Late Ediacaran period.
Praecambridium sigillum is an extinct organism that superficially resembles a segmented trilobite-like arthropod. It was originally described as being a trilobite-like arthropod, though the majority of experts now place it within the Proarticulata as a close relative of the much larger Yorgia. It is from the Late Ediacaran deposit of Ediacara Hills, Australia, about 555 million years ago. On average, P. sigillum had at least 5 pairs of segments, with each unit becoming progressively larger as they approach the cephalon-like head.
Anfesta stankovskii is a tri-radially symmetrical fossil animal that lived in the late Ediacaran (Vendian) seafloor. It is a member of the extinct group Trilobozoa.
Vaveliksia is an extinct genus of Ediacaran Sponge-like organism with a long, tubular-shaped body and a attachment disk similar to that of Petalonamids. The Vaveliksia genus contained two species, Vaveliksia velikanovi as well as Vaveliksia vana. The two species vary in appearance to one another, with V. velikanovi having a more tubular-shaped, sack-like morphology with a crown of wrinkles on top of one of its ends as well as possessing a much more disk-like holdfast with V. vana having an appearance more similar to that of a Poriferan, with V. vana having a much more dome-shaped holdfast and a capsule-like body with no crown of wrinkles unlike V. velikanovi.
Protechiurus edmondsi is a species of fossil animal from the Ediacaran Nama group of Namibia. It was initially interpreted as an echiurid worm. It has been placed as a "vendobiont", on the hypothesis that the Edicarian fauna represent a distinct phylum. It has also been suggested that it may be an ecdysozoan.
Arborea is a genus of Petalonamid that was originally considered as being synonymous with Charniodiscus. It consisted of a frond-like body 3–4 inches (7.6–10.2 cm) long that was attached to the substrate via a Holdfast that possessed many concentric rings on it. Species which were thought to have been within the genus Charniodiscus are now being interpreted as belonging to the genus Arborea with the latter of which being considered synonymous with Charniodiscus. A. arborea was first described from South Australia, and is the most abundant Petalonamid in the Flinders Ranges. The genus currently contains 5 known species with 3 of them originally being species of Charniodiscus; the species include A. arborea, A. denticulata, A. longa, A. oppositus and A. spinosa.
Veprina is a rare Ediacaran coelenterate cnidarian found on the Zimny coast of the White Sea, Russia and was first described by Mikhail Fedonkin in 1980.
Palaeoplatoda is a genus from the Ediacaran biota. It is a soft-bodied organism with a segmented body that resembles Dickinsonia, another Ediacaran organism.
Archaeaspinus fedonkini is an extinct proarticulatan organism from the Late Precambrian (Ediacaran) period.
Eoporpita is a disc or ellipse-shaped Ediacaran fossil with unsure taxonomy/classification. It is known from its type species, Eoporpitamedusa, the only species within the genus Eoporpita.
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.
Zolotytsia is an extinct genus of fossil animals from the late Ediacaran period (Vendian) which contains only one known species, Z. biserialis. Specimens of this species have been found in Russia, Ukraine and India.
Bonata is a monotypic, disk-shaped genus of Ediacaran organism that were originally found in the Ediacaran deposits of the White Sea area, Russia. It has been poorly studied because of the lack of fossil specimens found in the region since the 1980's. It contains a single species, Bonata septata.
Petalostoma kuibis is a species of enigmatic fossil organism from the Ediacaran period, possibly a member of the Petalonamae, of Namibia, Dabris Formation, Farm Aar.
Nasepia altae is a species of Ediacaran Erniettomorph which was described in 1973 from the farms of Vrede and Chamis, Namibia. Nasepia has an appearance similar to that of most other Erniettomorphs from Namibia, with it having a leaf-like body with thin ribs and spindle-shaped bodies, however it differentiates itself from other taxa such as Pteridinium and Rangea in the sense that it has smaller petaloids and with the configuration of the ribs being sub-parallel to its axis.
Gehlingia dibrachida is a species of enigmatic Ediacaran organism from South Australia described in 1998. Gehlingia has been described as having many characteristics of petalonamids, although it has been classified as a rather close relative of the Tribrachidium. The overall shape of Gehlingia contradicts this affinity, however, with its shape being a more Bilaterally symmetrical one although the basic structure similar to that of Tribrachidium appears in Gehlingia as separate branches extending into bifurcating minor branches along with "thumb structures" that are apparent in Tribrachidium in the form of side bulges on an axis.
Staurinidia is a genus of Ediacaran soft-bodied organism from the deposits of the Ust'-Pinega formation. It is a monotypic genus, containing only the single species Staurinidia crucicula. The genus was first described in 1985 by Russian palaeontologist Mikhail A. Fedonkin. S. crucicula's four-fold symmetry is present as a result of four canals radiating from the middle of a small cavity in the middle of the body. Other forms with four way symmetry, mainly Medusoid forms, from the Ediacaran comprise an essential chunk of the Ediacaran diversity of symmetry; their organisations are similar to, though smaller than, those of a modern-day Scyphozoan Cnidarian.
