Proarticulata

Taxobox
name = Proarticulata
fossil_range = Ediacaran

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image_size = 200px
image_caption = Artist's concept of "Dickinsonia costata", a putative proarticulatan.
regnum = Animalia
unranked_phylum = Bilateria
phylum = Proarticulata

Proarticulata is a proposed extinct phylum of very early bilateral animals known from fossils found in the Ediacaran (Vendian) fauna. Mikhail A. Fedonkin describes animals in Proarticulata as having a "shield-like" shape, an unmineralized, thin, flexible carapace and a thick, segmented body. The segmentation is described as a "symmetry of gliding reflection", in which the correspoding segments on the left and right sides do not line up, but are staggered. Fedonkin suggests that Proarticulata may be ancestral to the chordates. Fedonkin places the genera "Dickinsonia", "Yorgia", "Vendia", "Archaeaspinus", "Andiva" and "Ovatoscutum" in Proarticulata. [Fedonkin, Mikhail A. 2003. "The origin of the Metazoa in the light of the Proterozoic fossil record". "Paleontological Research", vol. 7, no. 1, March 31, 2003. P.35. Retrieved from [http://www.bionet.nsc.ru/live/ppt/Fedonkin_2003.pdf] May 19, 2007] A. Yu. Ivantsof has proposed that the genera "Tamga", "Lossinia", "Ivovicia" and "Onega" are in or close to Proarticulata. [Ivantsof, A. Yu. 2007. "Small Vendian transversely Articulated fossils". "Paleontological Journal". Volume 41, Number 2. April, 2007. Abstract retrieved from [http://www.springerlink.com/content/t213x0g55k650142/] May 19, 2007]

References