''Bomakellia kelleri'' is a species of poorly understood

Ediacaran The Ediacaran Period ( ) is a geological period that spans 96 million years from the end of the Cryogenian Period 635 million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Cambrian Period 538.8 Mya. It marks the end of the Proterozoic Eon, and th ...

fossil organism represented by only one specimen discovered in the Ust'-Pinega Formation of the Syuzma River from rocks dated 555 million years old. ''Bomakellia'' was originally interpreted as an early Arthropod. A study by B. M. Waggoner even concluded that the organism was a primitive

anomalocarid Radiodonta is an extinct order of stem-group arthropods that was successful worldwide during the Cambrian period. They may be referred to as radiodonts, radiodontans, radiodontids, anomalocarids, or anomalocaridids, although the last two origi ...

and erroneously identified the ridges of supposed Cephalon as being eyes making ''Bomakellia'' the oldest known animal with vision. But this hypothesis has not reached acceptance, nor acknowledgement. A closer examination of the specimen has identified a tetraradial symmetry in the body, and a frond-like morphology which closely resembles that of ''

Rangea ''Rangea'' is a frond-like Ediacaran fossil with six-fold radial symmetry. It is the type genus of the rangeomorphs. ''Rangea'' was the first complex Precambrian macrofossil named and described anywhere in the world. ''Rangea'' was a centimetre ...

'' – the current interpretation of ''Bomakellia'' is as a

rangeomorph The rangeomorphs are a form taxon of frondose Ediacaran Ediacaran biota, fossils that are united by a similarity to ''Rangea''. Some researchers, such as Pflug and Narbonne, suggest that a natural taxon Rangeomorpha may include all similar-look ...

frond, which could possibly mean that it's closely related to the Chinese ''

Paracharnia ''Paracharnia'' is a reassessed genus of a fossil reported by Ding and Chen (1981). It is the first Ediacaran metazoan fossilized remains found in China, taken from the Shibantan Member, Dengying Formation, Sinian System in the Eastern Yangtze G ...

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q15104251, from2=Q3641935 Incertae sedis Rangeomorpha Charniidae Ediacaran life White Sea fossils Controversial taxa Fossil taxa described in 1985 Species known from a single specimen

See also

References