Vendoconularia

Discovery and name

The holotype fossil of Vendoconularia was found from the Ust’ Pinega Formation, in the White Sea of Russia in 1997, and formally described in 2002.

The generic name Vendoconularia derives from Vendian, the Russian name for the Ediacaran; and the genus name conularia, due to its similar appearance to conulariids. The specific name triradiata derives from the English word triradiate, to mean three radiating folds.

Description

Vendoconularia triradiate is a probable conulariid, getting up to 54 mm in length and 33 mm at its widest, with a conical test consisting of six identical sides with three longitudinal bands in between two sides each, although known conulariids only have fourfold symmetry. The test itself would have been non-mineralised and flexible in life, which again, is unheard of in known conulariid genera.

A more recent study done on both Vendoconularia and Protechiurus by Ivanstov et al., 2019 recovered both as being related to each other under the newly erected family Protechiuridae, and also suggested that the aforementioned family is possibly either ancestral to the clade Conulariida, or to the anabaritids. Subsequent studies done after have noted that whilst a more detailed analysis is needed for Protechiurus to confidentially place it next to Vendoconularia phylogenetically, it does give further support for Vendoconularia (and Protechiurus) being stem-group conulariids.

References

References

1. Ivantsov, A. Y.. (2002). "Conulariid-like fossil from the Vendian of Russia: a metazoan clade across the Proterozoic/Palaeozoic boundary". Palaeontology.
2. (2005). "Reinterpretation of a Conulariid-Like Fossil from the Vendian of Russia". Palaeontology.
3. (December 2019). "Conical Thecae of Precambrian Macroorganisms". Paleontological Journal.
4. (July 2022). "Nonmineralized triradial conulariids from the lowermost Cambrian Stage 2 of the Olenek Uplift, Siberian Platform". Journal of Paleontology.