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KIMBERELLA QUADRATA
Glaessner & Wade, 1966

Kimberella quadrata is an important taxon in palaeontology. It has been widely considered to be the most reliable Ediacaran example of an early bilaterian animal, and has therefore been used as a calibration point in modern molecular clock studies (e.g. Benton et al., 2015).

Upon its original discovery, Kimberella was interpreted as an ancient medusoid (jellyfish) (Glaessner & Wade, 1966; Wade, 1972; Jenkins, 1983), however recent analyses have seen Kimberella redescribed as a basal mollusc (e.g. sea snail; Fedonkin & Waggoner, 1997; Ivantsov, 2009; Gehling et al., 2014). 

​Clusters of paired scour marks are often associated with Kimberella, and have been interpreted as scratch marks created by the organism grazing on the microbial substrate: a feeding strategy employed by living gastropods (e.g. snails and limpets). 


Described from:
Flinders Ranges, South Australia 
White Sea, Russia

Key papers: 
Fedonkin & Waggoner, 1997
Gehling et al., 2014
Glaessner & Wade, 1966
Ivantsov, 2009
Ivantsov, 2013
Jenkins, 1983
​Wade, 1972
​
​
Jenkins, R.J.F., 1983. Interpreting the oldest fossil cnidarians. ​In Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Fossil Cnidaria. Paleontographica Americana ​54, 95-104.

Picture
Kimberella quadrata. Photographed at the South Australian Museum, South Australia Image: Dr Alex Liu
Picture
Kimberella quadrata, South Australian Museum specimen P49391. Scale bar = 1 cm. Modified from Coutts et al. (2016).
Diagnosis (from Glassner & Wade 1966):
​Ovate bodies, rounded at one end and with a smooth contour; internal structures represented by several longitudinal, distinct zones of two kinds, coarsely segmented or with fine, transverse, frill-like grooves bordering a smooth area. 
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