Dickinsonia is an iconic fossil of a genus of the Ediacaran biota. It (roughly) resembles a bilaterally symmetrical ribbed oval. Its affinities are presently unknown; most interpretations consider it to be an animal, although others suggest it may be fungal, or a member of an "extinct kingdom".
Etymology[]
Dickinsonia was first described by Reg Sprigg, the original discoverer of the Ediacaran biota in Australia, who named it after Ben Dickinson, then Director of Mines for South Australia, and head of the government department that employed Sprigg.
Occurrence[]
This fossil organism was first discovered in the Ediacara Member of the Rawnslay Quartzite, Flinders Ranges in South Australia. Dickinsonia is also known from the Mogilev Formation in the Dniester River Basin, Podolia, Ukraine and from the Lyamtsa, Verkhovka, Zimnegory and Yorga Formations in the White Sea area of the Arkhangelsk Region, and Chernokamen Fm. of the Central Urals, Russia.
These deposits have been dated to 558-555 Myr.