Spindle-shaped Ediacara fossils from the Mistaken Point assemblage, Avalon Zone, Newfoundland

Abstract

The Mistaken Point assemblage of the Ediacara fossils is dominated by rangeomorphs with homologous fractal branching elements. The most distinctive are the fusiform fossils, herein named Fractofusus misrai n.gen., and n.sp., and Fractofusus andersoni n.gen., and n.sp. Although endemic to the Newfoundland portion of the Avalonia terrane, they dominated deep sea-floor communities below the photic zone, in the mid-Ediacaran Period (ca. 575–560 Ma). Their biological affinities remain uncertain, but their architecture suggests a phylogenetic position near the base of the Metazoa.