Spriggina

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Extinct genus of animals

title: "Spriggina" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["sprigginidae", "monotypic-proarticulatan-genera", "emblems-of-south-australia"] description: "Extinct genus of animals" topic_path: "geography/australia" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spriggina" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Extinct genus of animals ::

| fossil_range = Late Ediacaran, | image = Spriggina Floundensi 4.png | image_caption = Fossil of S. floundersi. Scale in millimetres | genus = Spriggina | parent_authority = Glaessner, 1958 | species = floundersi | authority = Glaessner, 1958 ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Big_Spriggina_floundersi.jpg" caption="Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary"] ::

Spriggina is a genus of early animals whose relationship to living animals is unclear. Fossils of Spriggina are known from the late Ediacaran period in what is now South Australia. Spriggina floundersi is the official fossil emblem of South Australia; it has been found nowhere else.

The organism reached 3-5 cm in length and may have been predatory. Its bottom was covered with two rows of tough interlocking plates, while one row covered its top; its front few segments fused to form a "head."

The affinity of Spriggina is unknown; it has been variously classified as an annelid worm, a rangeomorph-like frond, a variant of Charniodiscus, a proarticulatan, an arthropod (perhaps related to the trilobites), or even an extinct phylum. The lack of known segmented legs or limbs, coupled with the presence of glide reflection instead of symmetric segments, suggests that an arthropod classification is unlikely despite some superficial resemblance.

The genus Spriggina originally contained three different species—S. floundersi, S. ovata, and S. borealis—but S. ovata is now considered a junior synonym of Marywadea ovata, while the phylogenetic status of S. borealis remains a subject of active debate.

Description

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Spriggina_floundersi_-_MUSE.jpg" caption="''S. floundersi'', life restoration at MUSE – Science Museum in [[Trento"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Spriggina,_Ediacaran_metazoan,_Vendian,_Ediacara_Hills,south_Australia-Houston_Museum_of_Natural_Science-_DSC01385.JPG" caption="Cast of ''S. floundersi'' at [[Houston Museum of Natural Science"] ::

Spriggina grew to 3-5 cm in length and was approximately oblong. The organism was segmented, with no fused segments; the segments were sometimes curved. The upper surface of the organism was covered by one row of overlapping cuticular plates, the underside with paired plates. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Spriggina_observed_in_situ_at_Nilpena_Ediacara_National_Park.jpg" caption="An example of Spriggina observed ''in situ'' at [[Nilpena Ediacara National Park]]"] ::

The first two segments formed a "head". The front segment had the shape of a horseshoe with a pair of depressions on its upper surface; these may have represented eyes. The second segment may have borne antennae. Subsequent segments bore annulations.

Some fossils have what may be a circular mouth at the centre of the semicircular head, although interpretation is hampered by the small size of the creature relative to the large grains of sandstones in which it is preserved. Legs are not preserved.

The symmetry observed is not exactly bilaterian but appears to be a glide reflection, where opposite segments are shifted by half an interval. In some specimens the body segments tilt backwards, making roughly chevron patterns; while in others they are more or less straight. There appear to be fairly complex variations between these two extremes.

Discovery and naming

The genus was named after Reg Sprigg who discovered the fossils of the Ediacara Hills—part of the Flinders Ranges in South Australia—and was a proponent of their recognition as multicellular organisms. Spriggina floundersi is at present the only generally accepted species in this genus. The specific name "floundersi" refers to amateur South Australian fossil hunter Ben Flounders. Spriggina ovata has now been moved into its own genus, Marywadea.{{Cite journal |author = Glaessner, Martin F. |year = 1976 |url = http://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/Journals/TRSSA/TRSSA_v100/TRSSA_V100_p169p170.pdf |title = A new genus of late Precambrian polychaete worms from South Australia. |format = Free full text |journal = Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia |volume = 100 |issue = 3 |pages = 169–170 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070929094103/http://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/Journals/TRSSA/TRSSA_v100/TRSSA_V100_p169p170.pdf |archive-date = 29 September 2007

Spriggina is known only from beds of Ediacaran age. Fossils from the Vindhyan basin, reliably dated to around , but in all likelihood represent microbial artifacts.{{Cite journal |author = Bengtson, Stefan |author2 = Belivanova, Veneta |author3 = Rasmussen, Birger |author4 = Whitehouse, Martin |year = 2009 |doi = 10.1073/pnas.0812460106 |title = The controversial "Cambrian" fossils of the Vindhyan are real but more than a billion years older |journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume = 106 |issue = 19 |pages = 7729–7734 |pmid = 19416859 |pmc= 2683128 |bibcode = 2009PNAS..106.7729B |doi-access = free

Spriggina possessed a tough, though uncalcified body, evident from the fossils' preservation: always as a mould in the lower surface of the fossiliferous bed.

Classification

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Spriggina_flounensi_C.jpg" caption="Digitally enhanced image of a ''Spriggina'' fossil"] ::

Like many of the Ediacara biota, the relationship of Spriggina to other groups is unclear. It bears some similarity to the living polychaete worm Tomopteris and Amphinomidae,{{cite journal | author = Donovan, S. K. |author2=Lewis, D. N. | year = 2001 | title = Fossils explained 35: The Ediacaran biota | journal = Geology Today | volume = 17 | issue = 3 | pages = 115–120 | doi = 10.1046/j.0266-6979.2001.00285.x |s2cid=128395097 | author = Merz | year = 2006 | doi = 10.1093/icb/icj057 | title = Polychaete chaetae: Function, fossils, and phylogeny | journal = Integrative and Comparative Biology | volume = 46 | issue = 4 | pages = 481–96 | pmid=21672760 | doi-access = | author = Seilacher, A. | year = 1992 | title = Vendobionta and Psammocorallia: lost constructions of Precambrian evolution | journal = Journal of the Geological Society | volume = 149 | issue = 4 | pages = 607–613 | url = http://jgs.lyellcollection.org/cgi/content/abstract/149/4/607 | doi = 10.1144/gsjgs.149.4.0607 | bibcode = 1992JGSoc.149..607S | s2cid = 128681462 | access-date = 21 June 2007 | url-access = subscription

Affinity

At first, Spriggina was thought to resemble a polychaete worm such as Nereis, but a close look at the segmentation reveals that the segments do not match across the midline, just as in Dickinsonia. In 1989 Seilacher turned the interpretation upside-down, suggesting that Spriggina could be another type of sea-pen, and that the ‘head’ was actually a holdfast. |author1=Selden, P.A. |author2=Nudds, J.A. |year=2012 |edition=2nd |title=Evolution of Fossil Ecosystems |publisher=Academic Press |pages=15–18 |isbn=978-0-12-404629-0 |doi=10.1016/C2012-0-01282-3 |url=https://repository.naturalis.nl/pub/214351 |author1=Seilacher, A. |author1-link=Adolf Seilacher |author2=Gishlick, A. |year=2014 |title=Morphodynamics |publisher=CRC Press |page=137 |isbn=9780429170416 |doi=10.1201/b17557 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tpTaBAAAQBAJ

A relationship with arthropods has also been suggested because of superficial similarities with the Cambrian trilobite, but the lack of limbs Furthermore, the broad pleural lobes of trilobites served primarily as a rigid hood under which the legs could process the sediment for food.

South Australia’s fossil emblem

In 14 February 2017 the Spriggina was adopted as South Australia’s fossil emblem, due the fact it hasn’t been found anywhere else. The uniqueness of this Ediacaran fossil has led it to become the official fossil emblem of South Australia, the 550-million-year-old fossil was chosen for best representing the state’s geological and scientific prowess.{{cite news | last=Gage | first=Nicola | date=14 February 2017 | title=Reg Sprigg honoured with South Australia's first fossil emblem, the Spriggina | url = https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-15/reg-sprigg-recognised-honoured-with-sa-fossil-emblem-spriggina/8271586 | access-date = 4 December 2024}} More than 3500 South Australians cast their vote for a fossil to become the state’s new emblem in an online poll. | last = Gailberger | first = Jade | date = 14 February 2017 | title = Spriggina chosen as South Australia's fossil emblem | url = https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/spriggina-chosen-as-south-australias-fossil-emblem/news-story/b15c8d115af55caef859e16568e37282 | work = | location = | access-date = 4 December 2024

References

References

  1. Glaessner, Martin F.. (1958). "New Fossils from the Base of the Cambrian in South Australia". Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia.
  2. (16 February 2017). "FOSSIL EMBLEM OF THE STATE OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA". Department of the Premier and Cabinet.
  3. Ivantsov A.Yu.. (2001). "Vendian and Other Precambrian "Arthropods"". Paleontological Journal.
  4. (1966). "The Late Precambrian Fossils from Ediacara, South Australia". Palaeontology.
  5. (2007). "The Rise of Animals: Evolution and Diversification of the Kingdom Animalia". JHU Press.
  6. McCall. (2006). "The Vendian (Ediacaran) in the geological record: Enigmas in geology's prelude to the Cambrian explosion". Earth-Science Reviews.
  7. Vickers-Rich, P. Komarower, P. ''The Rise and Fall of the Ediacaran Biota''. The Geological Society, 2007, p. 444.
  8. De, C. (2005). "Ediacara fossil assemblage in the upper Vindhyans of Central India and its significance". Journal of Asian Earth Sciences.
  9. McMenamin, Mark. (1 January 2003). "Spriggina is a trilobitoid ecdysozoan". Abstracts with Programs.
  10. McMenamin, M. A. S.. (2003). "Predator-Prey Interactions in the Fossil Record".
  11. (2009). "The origin and evolution of arthropods". Nature.
  12. (2014). "Origins and early evolution of arthropods". Palaeontology.
  13. (2017). "The origin of the animals and a 'Savannah' hypothesis for early bilaterian evolution". Biological Reviews.
  14. (1993). "The fossil record and the early evolution of the Metazoa". Nature.
  15. Seilacher, A.. (1989). "Vendozoa: organismic construction in the Proterozoic biosphere". Lethaia.
  16. Seilacher, A.. (1985). "Trilobite palaeobiology and substrate relationships". Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

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