Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 20 August 2004:
Vol. 305. no. 5687, pp. 1115 - 1117
DOI: 10.1126/science.1102673
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Perspectives

PALEOBIOLOGY:
Decoding the Ediacaran Enigma

Martin Brasier and Jonathan Antcliffe

Fossils discovered in the Flinders Ranges of Australia in 1946 represent the most ancient complex animals that Earth has ever seen. Termed the Ediacara biota, these extinct animals are as enigmatic as they are beautiful. As Brasier and Antcliffe discuss in their Perspective, a large collection of remarkably well-preserved Ediacaran fossils discovered in the sediments of Spaniards Bay, Newfoundland, are providing paleontologists with a wealth of new information about the world's most ancient creatures (Narbonne).

M. Brasier and J. Antcliffe are in the Department of Earth Sciences, Oxford University, OX1 3PR, UK. E-mail: martin.brasier{at}earth.ox.ac.uk

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
RECONSTRUCTING A LOST WORLD: EDIACARAN RANGEOMORPHS FROM SPANIARD'S BAY, NEWFOUNDLAND.
G. M. NARBONNE, M. LAFLAMME, C. GREENTREE, and P. TRUSLER (2009)
Journal of Paleontology 83, 503-523
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
YANGTZIRAMULUS ZHANGI NEW GENUS AND SPECIES, A CARBONATE-HOSTED MACROFOSSIL FROM THE EDIACARAN DENGYING FORMATION IN THE YANGTZE GORGES AREA, SOUTH CHINA.
B. SHEN, S. XIAO, C. ZHOU, and X. YUAN (2009)
Journal of Paleontology 83, 575-587
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Evolutionary relationships within the Avalonian Ediacara biota: new insights from laser analysis.
M. D. Brasier and J. B. Antcliffe (2009)
Journal of the Geological Society 166, 363-384
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
EDIACARAN BIOTA ON BONAVISTA PENINSULA, NEWFOUNDLAND, CANADA.
H. J. HOFMANN, S. J. O'BRIEN, and A. F. KING (2008)
Journal of Paleontology 82, 1-36
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Fossils Impact as Hard as Living Taxa in Parsimony Analyses of Morphology.
A. Cobbett, M. Wilkinson, and M. A Wills (2007)
Syst Biol 56, 753-766
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Charnia and sea pens are poles apart.
J. B. Antcliffe and M. D. Brasier (2007)
Journal of the Geological Society 164, 49-51
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Morphology and taphonomy of an Ediacaran frond: Charnia from the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland.
M. Laflamme, G. M. Narbonne, C. Greentree, and M. M. Anderson (2007)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 286, 237-257
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A re-examination of the Nama-type Vendian organism Rangea schneiderhoehni.
D. GRAZHDANKIN and A. SEILACHER (2005)
Geological Magazine 142, 571-582
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)