Charniodiscus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charniodiscus is an Ediacaran fossil.
It resembles a sea pen, but has been considered as a member of a separate kingdom from animals. It is probably a stationary filter feeder, anchored on a sandy sea bed.
The organism had a holdfast, stalk and frond. The holdfast is bulbous shaped. The stalk is flexible. The frond is segmented and has a pointed tip. There are two growth forms. One has a short stem and a fat frond, and another has a long stalk, elevating the smaller frond 50 cm. Charniodiscus has been found at:-
- Bonavista Peninsula
- Mistaken Point on the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland
- Charnwood Forest, England
- South Australia
- White Sea of Russia
- Wernecke Mountains of northwestern Canada.
It was named by Ford in 1958. It was originally found and named after Charnwood Forest in England. However, Ford only described a holdfast consisting of a double concentic circle. His species was called Charniodiscus concentricus. Later it was discovered that a frond (Charnia masoni) was part of the same organism. Charnia differs in the branching structure in the frond.
Charniodiscus is dated at 565 to 555 Mya. Species names are
- Charniodiscus arborea (found in Australia)
- Charniodiscus oppositus
- Charniodiscus procerus (procerus means tall and slender)
- Charniodiscus spinosus
Species are distinguished by the number of segments, whether or not there is a distal spine, and the shape ratio.
Charniodiscus was featured on a $1 Australian stamp on 21 April 2005.
[edit] links and reference
- [Mistaken Point]
- [MORPHOMETRIC ANALYSIS abstract]
- [MORPHOMETRIC ANALYSIS]
- Described in Glaessner, Martin; Daily, B. 1959: The Geology and Late Precambrian Fauna of the Ediacara Fossil Reserve. Records of the South Australian Museum 13: 369-401
