Vendiamorpha
Vendiamorpha is a class of extinct animals within the Ediacaran phylum Proarticulata.
The typical vendiamorph had an oval-shaped or round-shaped body divided completely into segmented isomers, that were arranged alternately in two rows with reference to the longitudinal axis of the body.
Description
The phenomenon of left-right alternating segments is called glide reflection symmetry, and is a diagnostic feature of proarticulates. Transverse elements decrease in size from one end to the other and are inclined in the same direction. Typically, the first few, or largest initial isomers are fused together to form a headshield-like structure, leading some researchers to have originally considered them to be ancestral or related to arthropods, though, overwhelming evidence of them being proarticulates have since led researchers to discard this hypothetical relationship.Some vendiamorphs supposedly demonstrate a digestive-distributive system consisting of a simple axial tube and lateral appendages, with one lateral appendage corresponding to one isomer. The tentative vendiamorph Karakhatia is unique from the other members, as well as all proarticulates, in the fact that is has been noted to bearing 'coarse radial folds' around its outer margin, which has given it a noticeably frilly appearance, has been likened to what is seen in material of Haootia.
Taxonomy
Vendiamorpha currently contains the singular Family Vendiidae :Vendiidae
- † Vendia Ivantsov, 2001
- *† Vendia sokolovi Keller, 1969
- *† Vendia rachiata Ivantsov, 2004
- † Paravendia Ivantsov, 2004
- *† Paravendia janae Ivantsov, 2004
- † Karakhtia ? Ivantsov, 2004
- *† Karakhtia nessovi Ivantsov, 2004
Distribution
All members of Vendiamorpha are restricted to the Ust' Pinega Formation of Syuzma and Onega Rivers in Arkhangelsk Oblast, northwestern Russia.Name
The clade name Pseudovendia refers to the resemblances to a fossil imprint described as Vendia sokolovi. Originally, that fossil was interpreted as an arthropod, later as a proarticulatan, then conjectured as possibly a frond-like organism.Current scientific consensus now recognizes the poorly preserved holotype of Pseudovendia as a pseudofossil.