Australia: The Land Where Time Began

A biography of the Australian continent 

This is one animal that is difficult to assign to a known group. This was a small, disk-shaped animal up to a few cm across. 3 curved grooves radiated out from the centre that has been likened to a 3-armed swastika. It is the only known animal from the entire known history of life that appears to be based on a 3-fold radial symmetry. Some have suggested that it was a dead-end form, giving rise to no descendants. Others have suggested it may be distantly related to cnidarians (corals and anemones), or brachiopods. There is also a suggestion with a limited following that all the members of the Ediacaran fauna belong to their own unique kingdom that left no lineages leading to modern forms.

Links

1. Science Photo Gallery
2. Google images
3. Wikipedia

Sources & Further reading

1. Mary E. White, The Nature of Hidden Worlds, Reed, 1993
2. Mikhail A. Fedonkin, James G. Gehling, Kathleen Grey, Guy M. Narbonne, Patricia Vickers-Rich, The Rise of Animals, Evolution and Diversification of the Kingdom Animalia, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2007
3. Penny Van Oosterzee, 1993, The Centre - The Natural history of Australia's Desert Regions, Reed Australia.

Ediacaran Era

Ediacaran Hills

Australian Age of Dinosaurs