Spriggina
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Spriggina was a Vendian animal of the Ediacaran period, fossils of which have been found in the Ediacara Hills of Australia. They are considered to have one of the most "developed" appearances of all known precambrian animals.[citation needed] The organisms were some three centimeters in length. The shape of Springia is roughly oblong, and segmented looking. The segments are curved with the appearance of head end and tail end. The segments are attached to a central axis. Some fossils have a circular mouth at the centre of the semicircular head. The body is stiff, always making a mould in the lower surface of the fossil bed.
The symmetry is not exactly bilateran but is a glide reflection, where the opposite segment is shifted by half an interval.<ref>University of Califormis Museaum of Paleontology - Vendian Animals: Spriggina</ref><ref>Spriggina at Tripod.com</ref> In some specimens the body segments tilt backwards, making roughly chevron patterns; while in others they are more or less straight. There also appear to be fairly complex variations between these two.
Spriggina has been classified as a vendobiont, an annelid and an arthropod. It resembles a trilobite, and may be an ancestor of them. Spriggina could have been the predator that initiated the Cambrian transition.<ref>Spriggina is a Trilobitoid Ecdysozoan</ref>
Named species are
- Spriggina floundersi named by Martin Glaessner in 1958
- Spriggina ovata named by Glaessner & Mary Wade in 1966
The genus was named after Reg Sprigg who discovered the precambrian fossils in Ediacara Hills, and was a proponent of their recognition as multicellular organisms.
[edit] References
<references/>
- Glaessner, Martin F. 1958: New Fossils from the Base of the Cambrian in South Australia. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 81: 185-188.
- Glaessner, Martin F.; Wade, Mary 1966: The Late Precambrian Fossils from Ediacara, South Australia. Palaeontology 9 (4), pp. 599-628.
