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Spriggina

An organism with an elongate, vermiform body on which are clearly visible a head, a segmented trunk, which may contain up to 42 segments, and a small pygidium in the terminal portion. One particularly charicteristic feature is the head, which is horse-shoe shaped -narrow and very curved- with two pointed lateral projections at the back. The body is crossed longitudinally by a central groove corresponding, in all probability, to the digestive apparatus, and by two lateral grooves corresponding to the longitudinal musculature. The sides of the segments sometimes bear the imprintsof small, needle shaped satae. Remark -- Spriggina is one of the most charicteristic fossil forms of the Ediacaran Precambrian fauna. The original environment in which these fossils were laid down must have been shallow littoral waters that were warm, with normal salinity and oxigination. Apart from the forms illustrated in this book, the Ediiacaren fauna includes other coelenterates, arthropods and organisms of unknown zoological affinities. Copyreght Š1986 by Arnoldo Monadori Editore S.p.a., Milan .

7cm