Spriggina

Spriggina Temporal range: Late Ediacaran, 555 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Fossil of S. floundersi. Scale in millimetres
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	†Proarticulata
Class:	†Cephalozoa
Family:	†Sprigginidae
Genus:	†Spriggina Glaessner, 1958[1]
Species:	†S. floundersi
Binomial name
†Spriggina floundersi Glaessner, 1958

Spriggina is a genus of early animals whose relationship to living animals is unclear. Fossils of Spriggina are known from the late Ediacaran period in what is now South Australia. Spriggina floundersi is the official fossil emblem of South Australia;^[2] it has been found nowhere else.

The organism reached 3–5 centimetres (1.2–2.0 in) in length and may have been predatory. Its bottom was covered with two rows of tough interlocking plates, while one row covered its top; its front few segments fused to form a "head."^{[citation needed]}

The affinity of Spriggina is unknown; it has been variously classified as an annelid worm, a rangeomorph-like frond, a variant of Charniodiscus, a proarticulatan, an arthropod (perhaps related to the trilobites), or even an extinct phylum. The lack of known segmented legs or limbs, coupled with the presence of glide reflection instead of symmetric segments, suggests that an arthropod classification is unlikely despite some superficial resemblance.^[3]

The genus Spriggina originally contained three different species—S. floundersi, S. ovata, and S. borealis—but S. ovata is now considered a junior synonym of Marywadea ovata,^[4][5] while the phylogenetic status of S. borealis remains^{[as of?]} a subject of debate.^[5]