Wildlife History

Ediacaran animals (Phylogenetic tree) - Animals in the Fossil sites, and Biodiversity

Classified animal picture guide. Clicking the Organism name shows the images, and pointing the Organism name shows the tooltip with three links at the left-top corner.
The Ediacaran spanned from 630 to 542 millon years ago. The fossil of the oldest animal has been excavated from the Ediacaran. But many of them unsolved the placement. The explanation in brackets is the ages they lived in extinct species. Note that Mya is million years ago. For example, "48.6～40.4 Mya" shows a range between 48.6 and 40.4 million years ago. The italic and bold figures, e.g. 488, show out of the range. The time range is shown in the Geological Time Table. The followings are a part of the Evolutionary Tree.
The right map is the continents at Late Proterozoic provided by C. R. Scotese PALEOMAP Project.
  • Kingdom Animalia
    • Phylum unresolved
      Unknown animal Arkarua   (630～542 Mya), Bomakellia   (630～542 Mya), Namacalathus (630～542 Mya), Nimbia (630～488.3 Mya)
    • Phylum Trilobozoa (Three-lobed animals)
      Trilobozoa Tribrachidium   (630～542 Mya), Albumares   (630～542 Mya), Anfesta   (630～542 Mya)
    • Subkingdom Parazoa
      • Phylum Porifera (Sponge)
        Sponge Vaveliksia   (630～542 Mya), Fedomia   (558～555 Mya), Palaeophragmodictya (558～555 Mya)
    • Subkingdom Eumetazoa
      • Clade Radiata (Diploblastic - Two germ layers)
        • Phylum Cnidaria (Coral, Jelly fish)
          Cnidarian Inaria   (630～542 Mya)
          Coral Nemiana (620 Mya)
          Medusae Rugoconites   (590～542 Mya)
          Jellyfish Conomedusites (630～542 Mya)
      • Clade Bilateria (Triploblastic - Three germ layers)
        • Phylum Proarticulata
          Proarticulata Onega   (630～542 Mya), Dickinsonia   (630～542 Mya), Spriggina   (630～542 Mya), Vendia   (630～542 Mya), Windermeria   (630～542 Mya)
        • Clade Protostomia (First mouth)
          • Phylum Arthropoda (Trilobite, Insect, Crustacean)
            Arthropod Parvancorina   (630～542 Mya)
          • Phylum Mollusca (Limpet, Snail, Slug, Octopus, Squid)
            Mollusc Kimberella   (630～542 Mya)
        • Clade Deuterostomia (Second mouth)