Dickinsonia is a genus of extinct organism that lived during the late Ediacaran period in what is now Australia, China, Russia and Ukraine, most likely a basal animal. 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.
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.
Spriggina is a genus of early bilaterian animals whose relationship to living animals is unclear. Fossils of Spriggina are known from the late Ediacaran period in what is now South Australia. Spriggina floundersi is the official fossil emblem of South Australia; it has been found nowhere else.
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 and at the same time, 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 formed by more recognizable groups and more related to modern animals. It is very 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.
Cephalonega stepanovi is a fossil organism from Ediacaran deposits of the Arkhangelsk Region, Russia. It was described by Mikhail A. Fedonkin in 1976
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.
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.
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, 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.
Lossinia lissetskii is a fossil marine organism from Precambrian strata of the White Sea area, in Russia. L. lissetskii is a member of the extinct phylum Proarticulata.
Solza margarita is an extinct animal of uncertain phylogeny which lived about 555 mya in the Ediacaran period.
Kimberichnus is an ichnofossil associated with the early bilaterian Kimberella. It is known mostly from shallow marine Ediacaran sediments, often occurring alongside its producer. Kimberichnus often occurs in Russia and South Australia, where it is most abundant in the shape of multiple arcuate sets of ridges with fan-shaped arrangements.
The Ediacaran fossil Hallidaya, a close relative of Skinnera lived in Belomorian of the Late Ediacaran period prior to the Cambrian explosion and thrived in the marine strata on the ocean floor of what is now considered Australia. These fossils were disk-shaped organisms that were slightly dome shaped with tri-radial symmetry. These Ediacaran organisms thrived by living in low-energy inner shelf, in the wave- and current-agitated shoreface, and in the high-energy distributary systems.
Armillifera parva is a species of Ediacaran proarticulate first described by Mikhail Fedonkin in 1980. Its fossils were discovered in the White Sea area, Arkhangelsk Region, Russia. These fossils of A. parva were restricted to almost the same stratigraphic range as Kimberella, although fossils of both organisms have been rarely found.
Archaeaspinus fedonkini is an extinct proarticulatan organism from the Late Precambrian (Ediacaran) period.
Nenoxites is an extinct genus of Ediacaran ichnofossils described by Mikhail Fedonkin in 1973. The genus is monotypic; the only species to have been described is Nenoxites curvus.
