''Coronacollina acula'' is a multicellular organism from the

Ediacaran period 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 ...

resembling the Cambrian 'sponge' ''

Choia ''Choia'' is a genus of extinct demosponge ranging from the Cambrian until the Lower Ordovician periods. Fossils of ''Choia'' have been found in the Burgess Shale in British Columbia; the Maotianshan shales of China; the Wheeler Shale in Uta ...

''. The organism comprised a raised, tri-radially-symmetrical central mound with a central depression and resistant spicules (up to four in articulated fossils), which were resistant — either

chitin Chitin ( C8 H13 O5 N)n ( ) is a long-chain polymer of ''N''-acetylglucosamine, an amide derivative of glucose. Chitin is probably the second most abundant polysaccharide in nature (behind only cellulose); an estimated 1 billion tons of chit ...

ous or biomineralized — and grew to be 37 cm long.

References

External links

* * Ediacaran life Enigmatic animal taxa Prehistoric invertebrates of Australia Fossil taxa described in 2012 {{Precambrian-animal-stub