INARIA KARLI
GEHLING, 1988
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Inaria karli is described as a primitive actinian (the group that includes modern sea anemones), which, instead of burrowing into the sand like living sea anemones, may have sat above the sediment. Inaria is reconstructed as globular and sac-like, with a central tubular opening at the top of the organism. The walls of its body were probably thin and delicate. The specimen in the photograph on the right has been vertically compressed - the original organism would have had a tapering central tube protruding up into the water column just above its globular body.
Described from: Flinders Ranges, South Australia Key reference: Gehling, 1988 |
Inaria karli. Photographed at the South Australian Museum, South Australia. Image: Dr Alex Liu
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Taxonomic diagnosis (from Gehling, 1988):
Circular to oval polyp with broad base rising to a narrow, erectile pharynx along the polar axis; column swollen aborally, simple globular in juveniles, strongly lobate in mature specimens, with grastrovascular cavity divided abaxially by mesenteries; coelenteron axial; longitudinal gastrodermal and mesenterial muscle fibres radiate from pharynx to aboral surface; outer wall composed of mesogloea and thin epidermis; no pedal or oral disc; mouth tentacles and sting cells absent or not preserved.
Circular to oval polyp with broad base rising to a narrow, erectile pharynx along the polar axis; column swollen aborally, simple globular in juveniles, strongly lobate in mature specimens, with grastrovascular cavity divided abaxially by mesenteries; coelenteron axial; longitudinal gastrodermal and mesenterial muscle fibres radiate from pharynx to aboral surface; outer wall composed of mesogloea and thin epidermis; no pedal or oral disc; mouth tentacles and sting cells absent or not preserved.
