Arkarua
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| Arkarua Temporal range: Ediacaran
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| Genus: | Arkarua
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| Species: | A. adami
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Arkarua adami is a small, Precambrian disk-like fossil with a raised center, a number of radial ridges on the rim, and a five-pointed central depression marked with radial lines of 5 small dots from the middle of the disk center. Fossils range from 3 to 10 mm in diameter. Arkarua is known only from the Ediacaran beds of the Flinders Ranges in South Australia. The generic name refers to Arkaru, a mythical giant snake of the local Aboriginal people.[1]
Classification
All known specimens of Arkarua are casts that give no clue to the internal structure, making classification problematic. Because of Arkarua's pentamerous symmetry, it is tentatively placed within phylum Echinodermata. Because of its flattened disk- or button-shape, coupled with its pentamerous symmetry, some claim that it can be further classified into the Edrioasteroidea, a class of the echinoderms.[citation needed]
However, it lacked a feature present in later echinoderms: the stereom, a unique crystalline form of calcium carbonate from which their skeletons are built.[2]
See also
References
- McMenamin M. (1986). The Garden of Ediacara (PDF). ISBN 978-0-231-10559-0. Retrieved 2007-03-08.
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External links
- Vendian animals: Arkarua from the Ediacara Hills of Australia, from the University of California Berkeley Museum of Paleontology. (pictures)
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