What are Some Fossil Organisms that are Difficult to Classify?
Sometimes, paleontologists dig up fossils that are hard to classify. Some fossils are so cryptic that there isn’t even any agreement as to what animal phylum they belong to. Some, like the Vendozoa, mysterious quilted “mattresses” and bags from the Ediacaran period, about 600 to 542 million years ago, have been tentatively been assigned their own phyla. Others remain unplaced, with conflicting interpretations as to their affinity. A fossil whose classification is unknown is referred to as incertae sediis, Latin for “uncertain placement”. Fossils organisms that are difficult to classify are most numerous from the dawn of multicellular life, during the Edicaran and Cambrian periods. Multicellular life emerged in the Ediacaran, about 600 million years ago. Fossils from this time are so primitive it’s hard to tell what they are. One of these fossil organisms is Cloudina, one of the first biomineralizing organisms, of which only a calcereous tube remains. Various experts on fossil organisms
