Dickinsonia
Dickinsonia costata
Dickinsonia is one of the best-known Ediacaran fossils and helps researchers investigate the origins of animals.
Image: Ghedoghedo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
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Characteristics
- Scientific name
- Dickinsonia costata
- Period
- Ediacaran
- Lived
- 558–555 Ma (558 million years ago)
- Diet
- Detritivore
- Habitat
- Coast, Open sea
Description
This oval, flattened organism had a series of rib-like segments arranged on either side of a central growth axis. It probably lay on or just above the seabed and sometimes left distinctive impressions in microbial mats. Chemical residues suggest that Dickinsonia may have contained animal sterols, although its position in the tree of life has not been firmly established. No mouth, gut or other recognisable organs have been found.
Habitat
Soft seabeds in shallow coastal seas.
Fossil sites
Ediacara Hills, South Australia
Rawnsley Quartzite
Cultural profile: Australia →
Contemporaries in the database
Sources: Dickinsonia