Kimberella quadrata
GRI #689
Kimberella quadrata is interpreted as a slug-like animal, possibly similar to a mollusk (Glaessner, 1966). It appears to have lived on the surface of muddy seafloors. It has also been interpreted as a jellyfish, but this is no longer accepted. Grazing marks and locomotion trails have been found on the same rock surfaces in association with Kimberella fossils (Fedonkin et al., 2007). Modern slugs have a rasp-like tongue called a radula that can be used to scrape algae from rocks. Chemical traces of algae and bacteria have been found as probable fossilized gut content in Kimberella (Bobrovskiy et al, 2022), but no radula has been found, and details of the feeding traces differ from those of living mollusks. Kimberella fossils have been found in Russia, Australia, and Iran (Paleobiology Database, n.d.). This specimen is from the White Sea Region in Russia.
Kimberella quadrata close-up.
References:
Bobrovskiy, I., Nagovitsyn, A., Hope, J.M., Luzhnaya, E. and Brocks, J.J., 2022. Guts, gut contents, and feeding strategies of Ediacaran animals. Current Biology, 32(24), pp.5382-5389. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2022.10.051.
Fedonkin, M.A., Simonetta, A. and Ivantsov, A.Y., 2007. New data on Kimberella, the Vendian mollusc-like organism (White Sea region, Russia): Palaeoecological and evolutionary implications. In: VICKERS-RICH, P. & KOMAROWER, P. (eds) The Rise and Fall of the Ediacaran Biota, Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 286(1), pp. 157-179.
Glaessner, M.F. 1966. The late Precambrian fossils from Ediacara, South Australia. Palaeontology, 9, pp. 599-628.
Paleobiology Database, No date. Kimberella quadrata, The Paleobiology Database. Available at: https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicTaxonInfo?taxon_no=151846 (Accessed: August 2024).