What is Dickinsonia?
Dickinsonia is an iconic organism of the Ediacaran fauna, which are among the first known representatives of multicellular life on the planet. Dickinsonia appears as a ribbed oval with bilateral symmetry. It was stationary for most of its life, though it may have moved from resting place to resting place on occasion. Like other Ediacaran organisms, there is much debate as to the affinity of Dickinsonia, although most workers believe it is a bilateral animal, possibly an ancestor of the chordates. Its kingdom-level classification is officially incertae sedis (unknown classification), however. Dickinsonia lived approximately 560 – 541 million years ago, during the Late Ediacaran. It was contemporaneous with other odd Ediacaran organisms, which resemble mud-filled bags, stalks, and mattresses. These aren’t animals as we know them. Dickinsonia is sometimes put in the phylum Proarticulata, which would be the only animal phylum to go completely extinct if it did really exist. Other animals s
