Dickinsonia fossil map
Where fossils of Dickinsonia have been found, shown on the Earth as it looked about 555 million years ago and on today’s map.
Dots are fossil collections recorded in the Paleobiology Database. The “then” view moves today’s fossil sites back to their positions 555 million years ago (the time slice nearest the median age of the fossils) using the Merdith et al. (2021) plate model; positions are approximate. Open on the timeline map →
| Group | Ediacaran & Cambrian life |
|---|---|
| Lived | 635–538.8 million years ago (Ediacaran) |
| Periods | Ediacaran |
| Named by | Sprigg 1947 |
| Fossil records | 61 occurrences at 26 locations (PBDB) |
| Found in | Australia, Russian Federation, Canada, India, China, Ukraine |
| Rock formations | Rawnsley Quartzite, Verkhovka, Blueflower, Verkhovka , Mezen', Zimnie Gory |
About Dickinsonia
Dickinsonia is a genus of extinct organism that lived during the late Ediacaran period in what is now Australia, China, Russia, Canada and Ukraine. It had a round, approximately bilaterally symmetric body with multiple segments running along it. It could range from a few millimeters to over a meter in length, and likely lived in shallow waters, feeding on the microbial mats that dominated the seascape at the time.
As a member of the Ediacaran biota, its relationships to other organisms have been heavily debated. It was initially proposed to be a jellyfish, and over the years has been claimed to be a land-dwelling lichen, a placozoan, or even a giant protist. Currently, the most popular interpretation is that it was a seafloor-dwelling animal, perhaps a primitive stem group bilaterian, although this is still contentious. Among other Ediacaran organisms, it shares a close resemblance to other segmented forms like Vendia, Yorgia, and Spriggina, and has been proposed to be a member of the phylum Proarticulata or alternatively the morphogroup Dickinsoniomorpha. It is disputed whether the segments of Dickinsonia are bilaterally symmetric across the midline, or are offset from each other via glide reflection, or possibly both.
Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Dickinsonia (revision 1380261130), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; introduction excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Ages, family, authority and fossil records: Paleobiology Database, accessed 22 October 2026. Ages are those of the rock layers the fossils were found in.
