''Rutgersella truexi'' is a form species for problematic fossils of Early

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozo ...

age in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. It has been of special interest because of its morphological similarity with the iconic

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 ''

Dickinsonia ''Dickinsonia'' is an extinct genus of basal animal that lived during the late Ediacaran period in what is now Australia, China, Russia and Ukraine. The individual ''Dickinsonia'' typically resembles a bilaterally symmetrical ribbed oval. Its a ...

'', and may have been a late surviving

vendobiont Vendobionts or Vendozoans (Vendobionta) are a proposed very high-level, extinct clade of benthic organisms that made up of the majority of the organisms that were part of the Ediacaran biota. It is a hypothetical group and at the same time, i ...

Description

''Rutgersella truexi'' is a flat, segmented fossil, with both radial and bilateral symmetry like ''

'', but with a shorter midline. The fossils are pyritized; some internal chambers are filled with chalcedony, so that they are preserved along with proposed "basal

rhizines In lichens, rhizines are multicellular root-like structures, arising mostly from the lower surface. A lichen with rhizines is termed rhizinate, while a lichen lacking rhizines is termed erhizinate. Rhizines serve only to anchor the lichen to their ...

". Controversially, according to Retallack, these observations suggest affinities with

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.Glomeromycota Glomeromycota (often referred to as glomeromycetes, as they include only one class, Glomeromycetes) are one of eight currently recognized divisions within the kingdom Fungi, with approximately 230 described species. Members of the Glomeromycot ...

, a statement not currently supported by more verifiable palaeontologists.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q24977223 Silurian fungi Controversial taxa Enigmatic prehistoric animal genera Fossil taxa described in 1968