Hiemalora

taxobox
fossil_range = Ediacaran: 550 to 543 Ma
regnum = "incertae sedis"
genus = PAGENAME
genus_authority = Fedonkin 1982
type_species = "Pinegia stellaris":Fedonkin 1980
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
*"H. stellaris"

Fedonkin 1982
*"H. pleiomorphus":Vodanjuk 1989

Hiemalora is a fossil of the Ediacaran biota, reaching around 3 cm in diameter, which superficially resembles a sea anemone. The genus has a sack-like body with faint radiating lines originally interpreted as tentacles, but discovery of a frond-like structure seemingly attached to some "Heimalora" has added weight to a a competing interpretation: that it represents the holdfast of a larger organism.cite journal
author = Hofmann, H.J.
year = 2005
title = "HIEMALORA" AND OTHER EDIACARAN FOSSILS OF NORTHEASTERN NEWFOUNDLAND, AND CORRELATIONS WITHIN AVALONIA
journal = Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs
volume = 37
issue = 7
pages = 485
url = http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2005AM/finalprogram/abstract_94964.htm
accessdate = 2007-08-20 ] This interpretation would stand against its original classification in the medusoid Cnidaria; it would also consign a once-popular hypothesis placing "Hiemalora" in the chondrophores,cite journal
author = Seilacher, A.
coauthors = Buatois, L.A.; Gabriela Mangano, M.
year = 2005
title = Trace fossils in the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition: Behavioral diversification, ecological turnover and environmental shift
journal = Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
volume = 227
issue = 4
pages = 323–356
doi = 10.1016/j.palaeo.2005.06.003 ] on the basis of its tentacle structure, to the dustbin. Studies testing the feasibility of hypothesis investigated the possibilities that such fragile tentacles could be preserved, and concluded that it would be very improbable — especially as many "Hiemalora" bearing beds also contain such fossils as "Cyclomedusa", but do not preserve the tentacles on these organisms.cite journal
author = Narbonne, G.M.
year = 1994
title = New Ediacaran Fossils from the Mackenzie Mountains, Northwestern Canada
journal = Journal of Paleontology
volume = 68
issue = 3
pages = 411–416
url = http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-3360(199405)68%3A3%3C411%3ANEFFTM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-3
accessdate = 2007-08-20 ]

"Heimalora" has been identified in a wide range of facies and locations globally.cite journal
author = Waggoner, B.
year = 1998
title = The Ediacaran Biotas in Space and Time
journal = Integrative and Comparative Biology
volume = 43
issue = 1
pages = 104–113
doi = 10.1093/icb/43.1.104 ]

Entymology

The genus was originally named "Pinegia",cite journal
author = Fedonkin, M.A.
year = 1980
title = New representatives of the Precambrian coelenterates in the northern Russian platform
journal = Paleontologicheskij Zhurnal
pages = 7–15 ] but was renamed two years later when it was realised that a genus of Permian insect already bore the name. The revised name comes from: Verify source|date=August 2007

External links

* [http://geol.queensu.ca/museum/exhibits/ediac/tentacle.html Image]

References