''Fractofusus misrai'' is an

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 A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

discovered in 1967 by S.B. Misra at

Mistaken Point, Newfoundland and Labrador Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve is a wilderness area and a UNESCO World Heritage Site located at the southeastern tip of Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The reserve is home to the namesak ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, which has since become the

Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve is a wilderness area and a UNESCO World Heritage Site located at the southeastern tip of Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula in the Canada, Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The r ...

. It was named after Professor Misra in 2007. It represents a

frondose Frondosity (from Latin ''frondōsus'' meaning 'leafy') is the property of an organism that normally flourishes with fronds or leaf-like structures. Many frondose organisms are thalloid and lack the organization of tissues into organs, with the ...

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 ...

Discovery of Ediacaran fossils in the Avalon Peninsula

In the summer of 1967, S.B. Misra, an

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n graduate student (1966–69) at

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

Memorial University Memorial University of Newfoundland, also known as Memorial University or MUN (), is a public university in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, based in St. John's, with satellite campuses in Corner Brook, elsewhere in Newfoundland and ...

discovered a rich assemblage of imprints of soft bodied organisms on the surface of large rock slabs, while mapping the Conception Group of

Avalon Peninsula The Avalon Peninsula (french: Péninsule d'Avalon) is a large peninsula that makes up the southeast portion of the island of Newfoundland. It is in size. The peninsula is home to 270,348 people, about 52% of Newfoundland's population, according ...

of Newfoundland near

Cape Race Cape Race is a point of land located at the southeastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland, in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Its name is thought to come from the original Portuguese name for this cape, "Raso", mea ...

, at a place called

Mistaken Point Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve is a wilderness area and a UNESCO World Heritage Site located at the southeastern tip of Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The reserve is home to the namesak ...

. These unusual impressions of previously unknown soft-bodied sea animals on the surfaces of

argillite :''"Argillite" may also refer to Argillite, Kentucky.'' Argillite () is a fine-grained sedimentary rock composed predominantly of indurated clay particles. Argillaceous rocks are basically lithified muds and oozes. They contain variable amounts ...

s (mudstone) included coelenterates and other

metazoa Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage in ...

of the Ediacarian period, 575 to 560 million years ago. These fossils are records of some of the oldest known complex life forms that existed anywhere on Earth. Misra was the first to prepare and present a systematic geological map of the region, to classify and describe the rock sequence of the area and to work out the depositional history of the rocks. The description of the

assemblage together with their mode of occurrence, the cause of sudden death, ecological conditions and chronological position form part of Misra's detailed

thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

submitted for a degree of Master of Science. The discovery was reported in a 1968 letter to ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

''. Misra described the Mistaken Point fauna in detail in 1969, in a paper published in the ''Bulletin of the

Geological Society of America The Geological Society of America (GSA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the geosciences. History The society was founded in Ithaca, New York, in 1888 by Alexander Winchell, John J. Stevenson, Charles H. Hitchco ...

''. He sorted the fossil assemblage into five groups, namely spindle-shaped, leaf-shaped, round lobate, dendrite like, and radiating. Each group was defined in terms of distribution and form, sub-categories and biological affinity. The geological environment of the fossil-bearing rocks and the ecology of the animals that lived and died in the Conception Sea were described by Misra in two of his subsequent papers published in the ''Bulletin of the Geological Society of America'' in 1971 and in the ''Journal of the Geological Society of India'' in 1981.

is a 5.7-square kilometer area of the coast that protects the fossils.

Reproductive strategy

The distribution pattern of ''Fractofusus'' suggests that it had an effective reproductive strategy. This appears to have consisted of sending out a waterborne

propagule In biology, a propagule is any material that functions in propagating an organism to the next stage in its life cycle, such as by dispersal. The propagule is usually distinct in form from the parent organism. Propagules are produced by organisms ...

to a distant area, and then spreading rapidly from there, very likely asexually, just as plants today spread by

stolon In biology, stolons (from Latin '' stolō'', genitive ''stolōnis'' – "branch"), also known as runners, are horizontal connections between organisms. They may be part of the organism, or of its skeleton; typically, animal stolons are external s ...

s or runners.

References

External links

Mistaken Point Fauna Pioneering work by S.B.MisraDawn of Animal Life, Miller Museum of Geology
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3749207 Ediacaran life Ediacaran Newfoundland and Labrador Natural history of Newfoundland and Labrador Fossils of Canada Fossil taxa described in 2007

Discovery of Ediacaran fossils in the Avalon Peninsula

Reproductive strategy

See also

References

External links