Dickinsonia as a polypoid organism
Abstract
Dickinsonia is reconstructed as a benthic polypoid of generally cnidarian design. The oral surface was without tentacles but contained a median oral slit that probably led through a pharynx into an enteron, which was divided into digestive diverticulae by radiating mesenteries; feeding may have been via ciliary tracts. The mesenteries and body wall contained a stiff form of mesogloea. There seems to be no need to postulate a novel constructional grade for this organism, bringing the concept of the Vendozoa into question.
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Ediacaran fossils such as Dickinsonia had digestive diverticulae that have been compared with cnidarian pouches, implying that modern cnidarians resemble a grade of Late Precambrian organization from which bilaterians evolved.
“These diverticulae have been compared with cnidarian pouches repeatedly [169,170] (figure 6e), which would imply that modern cnidarians resemble ‘a grade of Late Precambrian organization from which bilaterians evolved’ [171].”
From Gastric pouches and the mucociliary sole: setting the stage for nervous system evolution (2015) · cites this paper as [169]
Cites
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On the eve of animal radiation: phylogeny, ecology and evolution of the Ediacara biota
Xiao, S., & Laflamme, M. (2009) · Trends in Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.tree.2008.07.015 · Cited by 543 · see citing works
From nerve net to nerve ring, nerve cord and brain — evolution of the nervous system
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Gastric pouches and the mucociliary sole: setting the stage for nervous system evolution
Arendt, D., Benito-Gutierrez, E., Brunet, T., & Marlow, H. (2015) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2015.0286 · Cited by 112 · see citing works
Ancestral state reconstruction of ontogeny supports a bilaterian affinity for <i>Dickinsonia</i>
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Valentine, J. W.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
- Corresponding author
- Valentine, James W.
- Venue
- Paleobiology
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 1992
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 378-382
- ISSN
- 0094-8373 (ISSN-L)
- 1938-5331
- OpenAlex
- W2460715367
- Cited by
- 42
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 4
- FWCI
- 3.80
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Paleobiology (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- University of California Museum of Paleontology
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Marine Invertebrate Physiology and Ecology
- Keywords
- Dickinsonia, mesogloea, mesentery, ciliary feeding, benthic feeding, Ediacaran biota
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