Dickinsonia Fossil: Curious Facts On Earth's Earliest Animals Revealed

The fauna known as Dickinsonia is very important for the ecosystem as it is the animal that predates the Cambrian explosion near the sea and ocean areas which gave to many living organisms that still exist today.

The brute is very old, it is a nearly 550 million years old species. It looks much like a pancake.

The brute looks very similar to the bilateral ribbed oval shapes which were actually imprinted on the rock beds and many areas, mostly in the Flinders region of South Australia at first. Later, the specimens were found in India, Russia, China, and Ukraine.

In 1947, for the first time, the Dickinsonia fossil was discovered in the world. Whereas very recently the species were also seen in the Bhimbetka rocks in Madhya Pradesh, India. Reg Sprigg was the first-ever discoverer of the Dickinsonia fossil on the whole planet in 1947.

Thereafter, there are many more discoverers who found the fauna of Dickinsonia like Bobrovskiy, J. M. Hope, A. Krasnova, A. Ivantsov, J. J. Brocks discovered the other species of molecular fossils of Ediacaran biota. The Dickinson is the name of the animal kingdom, whereas the genus is called the Dickinsonia and it is from the Dickinsoniidae family.

The brute can be classified as part of the phylum proarticulata and belongs to the Dipleurozoa class. There are a number of species of this brute named D. Costata found in 1947, D. Lissa found in 1972, D. Menneri found in 1976, and D. rex found in 1992, there is another one named D. tenuis found in 1966.

Dickinsonia Fossil: Classification

This animal called Dickinsonia is an extinct genus of the basal kingdom. It means the plants and animals that are found in the bottom of the sea or ocean beds.

The fossil Dickinsonia is from the proarticulata phylum. The animal Dickinsonia is from the Animalia kingdom. Whereas the specimens of this animal belong to Dipleurozoa class of animals. The organism is from the Dickinsoniidae family of organisms.

The evidence of this creature was found during the Ediacaran period of Earth where plant organisms were gradually evolving into animals; the evolution was complete in the Cambrian period that followed. The Dickinsonian fossils have been found in India, China, Australia, Russia, and Ukraine.

The organism Dickinsonia resembles a bilateral ribbed oval-shaped organism. The origin or the growth of the Ediacara biota are still unknown whereas the imprints or the fossils are found in the sandstone beds in a ribbed oval shape.

Dickinsonia Fossil: Features

The individual Dickinsonia was from the animal kingdom which are extinct life forms on the Earth.

The researchers said that these organisms are the oldest of animal life with complex cell structures. The first evidence of Dikinsonia of Ediacara biota in the world was discovered in Flinders Ranges of South Australia.

The researchers say that the fossils of Dickinsonia were first seen in 1947. Reg Sprigg is the original discoverer of this fossil in South Australia.

Later researchers found that specimens of Dickinsonia exist in Ukraine, Russia, India, and China. The fossils of Dickinsonia looked bilaterally symmetrical which were ribbed from the middle and were oval in shape.

Dickinsonia Fossil: Location

The oldest fauna or species in the sphere was discovered in South Australia by Sprigg for the very first time in 1947.

This multicellular organism was then found in many more areas like China, India, Russia, and Ukraine. In India, it was found in the Bhimbetka rocks, on the roof of the rock bed in Madhya Pradesh.

The Dickinsonia was considered 570 million years old. This type of animals deposit was first discovered in Australia and has close links with fossils found in India according to the Gondwana research journal.

The Dickinsonia fossils were pancake-shaped imprinted on the rock's bed. These were generally found near the sea and ocean areas and the diet contains microbes and algae found near water bodies.

The name of the other species of this genus is the Dickinsonia brachina found in Australia and Dickinsonia costata from three countries like Australia, Russia, and Ukraine. Other species of the Dickinsonia genus found in Australia are Dickinsonia elongata, Dickinsonia lissa, Dickinsonia menneri, and Dickinsonia minima.

Some of the other species of this genus are Dickinsonia rex from Russia, Dickinsonia spriggi from Australia, and Dickinsonia Tenuis found in Australia and Russia.

The Oldest Animal Fossil Ever Found

The oldest brute fossil in geological society ever found was named ancient sponges. These were found 890 million years ago in the world.

The mesh-like fossil would beat back the oldest regarded animal on earth by approximately 300 million years. But like many other claims made of this very antique life, a live debate has ensued to name the oldest discovered species of animal.

For example, comb jelly was considered to be the first-ever animal species found on the planet. The evolution of this jellyfish has led to fascinating insights about the aspects of life for the first-ever fauna species present in the world.

The Dickinsonia was also one of the oldest in the fossil record which was found in the late Ediacaran or early phase of the Cambrian explosion. The nonbird dinosaurs were believed to have existed from 245-66 million years ago.

This time was popularly known as the Mesozoic era. The existence of earliest vertebrate fossils found on the planet was believed to be heavily armored fish that originated within the rocks.

These were from the Ordovician period that is nearly 500-430 million years ago. However, other contentions suggest that the earliest vertebrate could have been a creature like a tadpole.