Fig 1.
Fossil vendobionts from the Lyamtsa locality of Ediacaran, Ust Pinega Formation of the White Sea region: a, vendobiont Dickinsonia menneri; b, vendobiont Yorgia waggoneri; c, vendobiont Dickinsonia tenuis. Specimen numbers in the Paleontological Institute Moscow are PIN4716/5170 (a), PIN3993/5501 (b), PIN3993/850 (c), and images are courtesy of A. Ivantsov.
Fig 2.
Recovery from damage to the antideltoidal end of Dickinsonia menneri from the Ediacaran, Ust Pinega Formation, at the Lyamtsa locality of the southeastern White Sea region Russia, using non-genetic terminology [40].
Fig 2C is the same specimen as Fig 1A. Specimens are PIN4176/5188 (a), PIN4176/5146 (b), PIN4176/5170 (c), PIN4176/5182 (d).
Fig 3.
Modern lichens showing apical and lateral meristematic mode of growth: Caloplaca verruculifera image (a), and interpretive sketch of lobe disposition with apothecia removed (b), from rock platform exposure of Ediacaran, Gaskiers Formation, 4 m above sea level, St Marys, Newfoundland; lichen Xanthoparmelia terrestris on red soil between belah (Casuarina cristata) trees at Back Creek State Forest 16 km east of West Wyalong, N.S.W., Australia (c), Xanthoparmelia plittsi (d) and Polycauliona ignea (e) on welded tuff of Oligocene, John Day Formation on Carroll Rim, Painted Hills State Park, Oregon, and Dimelaena oreina (f) on Steens Basalt at Paisley Caves, Oregon.
Fig 4.
Growth series of vendobionts (a-k), living organisms (i-t), and trilobite (u-y): a-b, “Praecambridium sigillum” from the Ediacara Member of the Rawnsley Quartzite Ediacara Hills, South Australia [94]: c-e, Dickinsonia costata from the Ediacara Member of the Rawnsley Quartzite Ediacara Hills, South Australia [14, 96]; f-h, Charnia masoni [55, 86] from the Drook Formation at Drook Newfoundland (f), Mistaken Point Formation at Mistaken Point, Newfoundland (g), and Bradgate Formation in Charnwood Forest, England (h): i-k, Fractofusus misrai from the Mistaken Point Formation at Mistaken Point, Newfoundland [114, 146]: l-n, crustose lichen Xanthoparmelia sp. indet, on a granite tombstone, in successive years 8 Nov. 2005, 27 Sept 2006 and 21 May 2007, Petersham, Massachusetts [81]; o-s, phaeophyte alga Turbinaria ornata from Moorea, French Polynesia [88]; t, sea pen Pennatula phosphorea from the North Sea, UK [26]; u-y, trilobite Gunnia sp. indet. from the Middle Cambrian, Gaotai Formation, from Balang, Guizhou Province, China [27]. Scale bars all 10 mm.
Fig 5.
Interpreted relative age of mature examples of vendobionts, sea weeds, sea pens and trilobite based on Fig 3: a, phaeophyte alga Turbinaria ornata from Moorea, French Polynesia [88]; b, vendobiont Fractofusus misrai from the Mistaken Point Formation at Mistaken Point, Newfoundland [114]; c, vendobiont Charnia masoni from Bradgate Formation at Charnwood Forest, England [86]; d, vendobiont Dickinsonia costata from the Ediacara Member of the Rawnsley Quartzite Ediacara Hills, South Australia [14]; e, trilobite Gunnia sp. indet. from the Middle Cambrian, Gaotai Formation, from Balang, Guizhou Province, China [27]. Scale bars all 10 mm.
Fig 6.
The placozoan Trichoplax adhaerens (a), and its reproduction by fission (b-d). Scales in panels a-d are 200 μm. From [60] with permission.
Fig 7.
Comparison of Dickinsonia costata (a-b), with other extinct lichens, Diskagma buttonii from the Palaeoproterozoic (2.1 Ga) upper Hekpoort Basalt near Waterval Onder, South Africa (c-f), and Prototaxites honeggeri from the Middle Ordovician (Darriwilian or 460 Ma) Douglas Lake Member, Lenoir Limestone near Douglas Dam, Tennessee (g-i): a, hand specimen; b, reconstruction with Phyllozoon hanseni and Aulozoon based on thin section study [43, 48]; c, thin section; d, computed x-ray tomography image; e, reconstruction; f, reconstructed paleosol colonized by Diskagma [169]; g, branching apex; h, coccoid photobionts gripped by hyphae; i, reconstructed paleosol and associated fossils [85].