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A re-examination of the Nama-type Vendian organism Rangea schneiderhoehni

DIMA GRAZHDANKIN^*,, and ADOLF SEILACHER^,¶

^* Paleontological Institute, Profsoyuznaya Street 123, Moscow 117647, Russia
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UK
Institut für Geologie und Paläontologie, Sigwartstr. 10, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
^¶ Geology & Geophysics Department, Yale University, P.O. Box 208109, New Haven, CT 06520-8109, USA

Author for correspondence: dgra99{at}esc.cam.ac.uk

The need to re-examine Rangea has been motivated by two factors: first, by the recent progress in the understanding of three-dimensional mouldic preservation of Vendian fossils, and second, by discoveries of this taxon outside Gondwana albeit in the same sedimentary environment as seen in Namibia. Several important features are revealed, including the in situ posture in the sediment, the double-layered quilted structure, the tripartite stemless body and the mucous-supported sheath in the sediment. It is suggested that Rangea represents an infaunal organism, and that the similarity with other members of the Nama-type biota reflects convergence in functional and fabricational constraints in relation to infaunal life habit.

Key Words: Neoproterozoic • Vendian • Nama Group • taphonomy • taxonomy