 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (March 2013) |
| Arkarua Temporal range: Late Ediacaran, about
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| Artist's restoration | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Echinodermata (?) |
| Class: | †Edrioasteroidea (?) |
| Genus: | †Arkarua Gehling, 1987 |
| Species: | †A. adami
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| Binomial name | |
| †Arkarua adami Gehling, 1987
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Arkarua adami is a small, Precambrian disk-like fossil with a raised center, a number of radial ridges on the rim, and a five-pointed central depression marked with radial lines of five small dots from the middle of the disk center. Fossils range from 3 to 10 mm in diameter.
Arkarua is known only from the Ediacaran beds of the Flinders Ranges in South Australia. The generic name refers to Arkaroo, a giant snake from the Dreaming of the local Aboriginal people.[1]
Arkarua is suggested to have been a passive suspension feeder.[2]
- ^ Gehling, J.G. (1987). "Earliest known echinoderm — a new Ediacaran fossil from the Pound Subgroup of South Australia". Alcheringa. 11: 337–345. doi:10.1080/03115518708619143.
- ^ García-Bellido, Diego C. (6 April 2021). "555 million-year-old fossils reveal early feeding strategies". Environment Institute Blog. The University of Adelaide. Archived from the original on 29 December 2023. Retrieved 29 December 2023.