Welcome to the Fossil Wiki The paleontology wiki that anyone can edit. 5,553 articles and 2,468 images since January 5, 2009 Official policies Verifiability No Angry Mastodons Neutral point of view No original research Helping out Contributing How to edit a page Your first article Be Bold More featured images Astrapotherium

Kimberella is a genus of disputable multicellular organism known from fossils that date back to the Ediacaran period, and only one species, K. quadrata, has been recognized. Specimens were first found in Australia's Ediacara Hills, but recent research has concentrated on the numerous finds near the White Sea in Russia, which cover an interval of time from 555-558 Ma. As with many fossils from this time, its evolutionary relationships to other organisms is hotly debated. Paleontologists initially classified Kimberella as a type of jellyfish, but since 1997 features of its anatomy and its association with scratch marks resembling those made by a radula have been interpreted as signs that it may have been a mollusc. Although some paleontologists dispute its classification as a mollusc, it is generally accepted as being at least a bilaterian. The classification of Kimberella is important for scientific understanding of the Cambrian explosion: if it was a mollusc or at least a protostome, the protostome and deuterostome lineages must have diverged significantly before 555 Ma. Even if it was a bilaterian but not a mollusc, its age would indicate that animals were diversifying well before the start of the Cambrian. (Read more...)

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From The Fossil Wiki's newest articles:

• ... that in 2005, an Acrocanthosaurus skull (pictured) was CT scanned, proving that Acrocanthosaurus was a carcharodontosaurid?
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Paleontologist of the Month

Paul Sereno is an American paleontologist who is the discoverer of several new dinosaur species on several continents. He has conducted excavations at sites as varied as Inner Mongolia, Argentina, Morocco and Niger. He is a professor at the University of Chicago and a National Geographic "explorer-in-residence." Sereno's most widely publicized discovery is that of a nearly complete specimen of Sarcosuchus imperator (popularly known as SuperCroc) at Gadoufaoua in the Tenere desert of Niger. Other major discoveries include Eoraptor - the oldest known dinosaur fossil, Jobaria, the first good skull of Carcharodontosaurus iguidensis, Afrovenator, Suchomimus and the African pterosaur. (Read more...)

2009 In the News                                • Suggest a news item • A new species of Eobaatar, a Cretaceous mammal, is described in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. Tianyuraptor (pictured), a new genus of short-armed dromaeosaurid dinosaur, is described from the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation in China. Research at Virginia Tech has shown that the oldest complex life forms – living in nutrient-rich oceans more than 540 million years ago – likely fed by osmosis. Nanostructures preserved in feather fossils more than 40 million years old show evidence that those feathers were once vivid and iridescent in color. The hair-like filaments found in pterosaurs are officially described as pycnofibers. A new report from the scientific journal Lethaia suggests that theropod dinosaurs preyed upon juveniles and newborns, as opposed to fully grown adults. A new analysis of the remains of a Tyrannosaurus rex has confirmed traces of protein from blood and bone, tendons, or cartilage. Newly described remains of the stem-group mammal Suminia are announced which indicate that it was aboreal and had opposable, grasping thumbs. Random Featured Quote (Refresh) "It is well known, that on the Ohio, and in many parts of America further north, tusks, grinders, and skeletons of unparalleled magnitude are found in great numbers, some lying on the surface of the earth, and some a little below it ... But to whatever animal we ascribe these remains, it is certain that such a one has existed in America, and that it has been the largest of all terrestrial beings." —U.S. President Thomas Jefferson describing the bones at Haynes cave. Notes on the State of Virginia (1782), 71, 77. Community                                           About • FAQ • The Field Site Community To-Do List Place all uncategorized images into the Image Category. Create some wanted articles. The goal for the number of pages to be created by the end of August is 5,500 articles. There are currently 5,553 articles. Weigh in at the recent Featured article nominations. Add an item here!

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4567.17 Ma - Precambrian era - 542 Ma
3800 Ma - Archean eon - 2500 Ma				2500 Ma - Proterozoic eon - 542 Ma
3800 Ma - Archean eon - 2500 Ma				2600 Ma - Paleoproterozoic era - 1600 Ma				1600 Ma - Mesoproterozoic era - 1000 Ma			1000 Ma - Neoproterozoic era - 542 Ma
Eoarchean	Paleoarchean	Mesoarchean	Neoarchean	Siderian	Rhyacian	Orosirian	Statherian	Calymmian	Ectasian	Stenian	Tonian	Cryogenian	Ediacaran

542 Ma - Phanerozoic eon - Present
542 Ma - Paleozoic era - 251 Ma						251 Ma - Mesozoic era - 65 Ma			65 Ma - Cenozoic era - Present
Cambrian	Ordovician	Silurian	Devonian	Carboniferous	Permian	Triassic	Jurassic	Cretaceous	Paleogene	Neogene	Quaternary

Random Featured Image (Refresh) Diagram showing the appearances and relative sizes of 18 basal species of Ceratopsians (frilled, beaked dinosaurs typified by Triceratops). Animals are shown in order of geologic stage from left to right and top to bottom, with species names and stage information as annotation. Ceratopsians were beaked herbivores who lived in what are now North America and Asia, during the Cretaceous Period. Early members such as Psittacosaurus were small and bipedal. Later members, including ceratopsids like Centrosaurus and Triceratops, became very large quadrupeds and developed elaborate facial horns and a neck frill.

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