'Hurricane' Niklas kills two in the UK and at least three in Germany.

Atlantic Storm Niklas, which has caused flooding and widespread disruption in the UK is reported to have reached hurricane force as it swept onto the European continent, with sustained winds in excess of  119 kilometers per hour (windspeeds recorded to be in excess of 119 kilometers per hour for periods of longer than a minute) reported in several parts of Germany. The storm is reported to have caused two fatalities in the UK, one in West Lothian and one in Nottinghamshire, as well as flooding in parts of England and Wales, disruption to rail services in England and Scotland, and loss of power to thousands of homes in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland. The Environment Agency has reported the highest storm surge on the North Sea recorded since 1953.

Damage to a car in Norwich; fortunately it was not occupied at the time. ITV.

In Germany the storm is reported to have caused at least three further fatalities, with a man crushed by a falling wall near Magdeburg and more killed by a falling tree which struck their car in Rhineland-Palatinate. Rail services have been disrupted across much of Germany, and the main railway station in Munich was briefly evacuated after part of a glass ceiling collapsed. Germany has also suffered power outages, particularly in the southwest, and disruption to air traffic, with many flights cancelled due to unsafe conditions.

Damage to a train which struck a fallen tree in Lower Saxony. DPA.

The Netherlands have also suffered severe disruption to transport networks, with roads closed by fallen trees, cancellations of flights and rail journeys and a container ship running aground at Vlissingen. 

The MV Sealand Meteor which ran aground near Vlissingen in the Netherlands on 31 March 2015, while trying to make harbour in Antwerp. gCaptain.

Ocean storms form due to heating of air over the sea in tropical zones. As the air is heated the the air pressure drops and the air rises, causing new air to rush in from outside the forming storm zone. If this zone is sufficiently large, then it will be influenced by the Coriolis Effect, which loosely speaking means the winds closer to the equator will be faster than those further away, causing the storm to rotate, clockwise in the northern hemisphere and anticlockwise in the southern hemisphere.

Whilst the high winds associated these storms is extremely dangerous, the real danger from such storms is often the flooding. Each millibar drop in air pressure can lead to a 1 cm rise in sea level, and large storms can be accompanied by storm surges several meters high. This tends to be accompanied by high levels of rainfall, caused by water picked up by the storm while still at sea, which can lead to flooding, swollen rivers and landslides; which occur when waterlogged soils on hill slopes lose their cohesion and slump downwards, over whatever happens to be in their path.

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At least six dead as storms batter North Rhine-Westphalia.

At least six people have died as storms battered the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia on 9-10 June 2014. Two men and a woman were killed in Duesseldorf, where a tree fell on a shed in which...

One confirmed fatality after Omsk hit by 'hurricane'.

One person has been confirmed dead after storms and high winds hit the Omsk region in southern Russia on Saturday 26 April 2014. The 23-year-old woman, who has yet to be named, was hit by a bus-shelter that had been uprooted by high winds in the village of...

At least six dead as Atlantic Storm hits Britain and France.

At least six people have died after an Atlantic Storm hit Britain and France on Monday 23 December 2013. Simon Martindale (48) drowned in the...

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Asteroid 2015 FN34 passes the Earth.

Asteroid 2015 FN34 passed by the Earth at a distance of 3 076 000 km (7.99 times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon, or 2.06% of the average distance between the Earth and the Sun), slightly before 5.20 am GMT on Wednesday 25 March 2015. There was no danger of the asteroid hitting us, though had it done so it would have presented only a minor threat. 2015 FN34 has an estimated equivalent diameter of 8-27 m (i.e. it is estimated that a spherical object with the same volume would be 8-27 m in diameter), and an object of this size would be expected to explode in an airburst (an explosion caused by superheating from friction with the Earth's atmosphere, which is greater than that caused by simply falling, due to the orbital momentum of the asteroid) in the atmosphere between 36 and 18 km above the ground, with only fragmentary material reaching the Earth's surface.

The calculated orbit of 2015 FN34. JPL Small Body Database.

2015 FN34 was discovered on 21 March 2015 (four days before its closest approach to the Earth) by the University of Arizona's Mt. Lemmon Survey at the Steward Observatory on Mount Lemmon in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson. The designation 2015 FN34 implies that it was the 863rd asteroid (asteroid N34) discovered in the second half of March 2015 (period 2015 F). 

2015 FN34 has an 721 day orbital period and an eccentric orbit tilted at an angle of 11.2° to the plane of the Solar System, which takes it from 0.91 AU from the Sun (i.e. 91% of the average distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun) to 2.24 AU from the Sun (i.e. 224% of the average distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun, considerably greater than the distance at which the planet Mars orbits the Sun). It is therefore classed as an Apollo Group Asteroid (an asteroid that is on average further from the Sun than the Earth, but which does get closer). This also means that close encounters between 2015 FN34 and the Earth are quite common, with the next predicted for August this year.

See also...

Asteroid 2015 DJ215 passes the Earth.

Asteroid 2015 DJ215 passed by the Earth at a distance of 12 430 000 km (32.4 times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon, or 8.38% of the average distance between the Earth and the Sun), slightly before 5.30 pm GMT on Sunday 22 March...

Asteroid 2015 FC117 passes the Earth.

Asteroid 2015 FC117 passed by the Earth at a distance of 6 542 000 km (17.0 times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon, or 4.37% of the average distance between the Earth and the Sun), slightly 6.45 am GMT on Sunday 22 March 2015....

Asteroid 2015 EG7 passes the Earth.

Asteroid 2015 EG7 passed by the Earth at a distance of 1 044 000 km (2.72 times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon, or 6.98% of the average distance between the Earth and the Sun), slightly before 9.30 pm GMT on Friday 20 March 2015...

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Dinocephalian Therapsids from the Middle Permian of the Karoo Basin, South Africa.

The Dinocephalians were a group of mostly large, herbivorous Therapsids (the group that also includes Dicnodonts and Mammals) known from the Middle Permian of Russia, Central Asia, China, Brazil, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa, that briefly formed a dominant part of terrestrial faunas before becoming abruptly extinct. Their sudden rise to dominance and equally sudden disappearance has led to them being used to help define the fossil biozones (stratigraphic time periods defined from fossil assemblages – these are generally defined using pollen in later terrestrial settings, but no pollen was present in the Permian) used to date terrestrial sediments from South Africa, and since these South African rocks have a number of volcanic horizons used to obtain isotopic dates for these biozones, they in turn are considered a global reference point for dating events in early Tetrapod evolution. Dinocephalian Therapsids first appear in the Eodicynodon Biozone, then rise to become a diverse and dominant part of the fauna in the Tapinocephalus Biozone, but are absent from the overlying Pristerognathus Biozone; there disappearance is therefore one of the factors used to define the boundary between the Tapinocephalus and Pristerognathus Biozones.

In a paper published in the South African Journal of Science on 27 March 2015, Michael Day, Saniye Güven, Fernando Abdala, Sifelani Jirah and Bruce Rubidge of the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the School of Geosciences at the University of the Witwatersrand and John Almond of Natura Viva in Cape Town describe two new Dinocephalian specimens from the lower Poortjie Member of the Teekloof Formation in the Beaufort West District of Western Cape Province, South Africa.

Both of the new specimens comprise the rear portions of skulls, and both are assigned to the genus Criocephalosaurus, of which two species have previously been described. However since both of these species were described from cranial roofs only, with Criocephalosaurus vanderbyli described from a single weathered cranial roof and Criocephalosaurus gunyankaensis described from four cranial roofs, all of which are currently missing, the new specimens are not assigned to species level. They are notably smaller and more slender than other specimens assigned to the genus, but it is unclear based upon the available material whether they are members of a new species or juveniles of one of the previously described species.

Photos of the specimens (a–d) SAM-PK-K10888 and (e–g) BP/1/7214 showing (a,e) dorsal view, (b,f) left lateral view, (c,g) right lateral view and (d) occipital view. (h) View of sagittal plane on right posterior part of the skull of SAM-PK-K10888, showing the pineal canal orientated parallel to the occipital plane. (i, j) Idealised skull of Criocephalosaurus showing the portions preserved in (i) BP/1/7214 and (j) SAM-PK-K10888. Day et al. (2015).

The boundary between the Tapinocephalus and Pristerognathus Biozones has previously been placed in the upper part of the Abrahamskraal Formation, with the boundary between the Abrahamskraal and Teekloof Formations within the Pristerognathus Biozone. The discovery of specimens of Criocephalosaurus within the lower Poortjie Member of the Teekloof Formation suggests that this scenario is wrong, and that either the boundary between the Abrahamskraal and Teekloof Formations lies within the Tapinocephalus Biozone or Criocephalosaurus extends into the Pristerognathus Biozone. This adds to a growing problem defining the boundary betweem the two biozones, with specimens of the two fossil groups considered diagnostic of the Pristerognathus Biozone, Diictodon and Pristerognathus, having recently been discovered within the Tapinocephalus Biozone, and Day et al. suggest that these biostratigraphical units need reviewing in the near future.

(a) Extension of the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone (AZ) into the lower Teekloof Formation. Arrows indicate the extension of Tapinocephalus AZ into the Teekloof Formation. (b) Stratigraphic section measured at Beaufort West between the level of the SAM-PK-K10888 locality and the lower Hoedemaker Member. (c) Stratigraphic section on the farm Putfontein. Day et al. (2015).

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Kannemeyeriiforme Dicynodonts from the Middle Triassic of Shanxi Province, China.

Triassic deposits are widespread in Northern China, but Tetrapod fossil producing locations are very rare. Those that are known are restricted to the Heshanggou, Ermaying and Tongchuan...

Scavenging on the body of a Dicynodont Therapsid in the Late Permian of the Karoo Basin. 

Therapsids were a group of Synapsid Amniotes (the group of terrestrial vertebrates that include the...

A Caseid Synapsid from the Late Pennsylvanian of Kansas.

Synapsids, the group which gave rise to and includes the modern Mammals (and which are sometimes misleadingly known as ‘Mammal-like Reptiles’) diverged from the other early Amniotes (fully terrestrial Vertebrates) about 315 million years ago in the Late Carboniferous, and went on to become the dominant large vertebrates in Permian ecosystems, though they suffered badly in the end-Permian extinction, and... 

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Seven confirmed deaths following landslide in Jammu and Kashmir.

Seven people, including at least one child are known to have died following a landslide which destroyed four houses at Laldan in the Budgam District of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday 30  March 2015. It is feared at least 10 other people are trapped in the remains of the buildings. The incident happened after 36 hours of heavy rainfall, which has caused widespread flooding in Jammu and Kashmir, resulting in a number of other deaths. Landslides are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to flow like liquids.

Damage caused by the 30 March 2015 Laldan landslide. Umar Ganie/Rediff.

The Jammu and Kashmir region is extremely prone to landslides, due to a number of active faults in the area, these being driven by the northward movement of the Indian Plate, which is pushing into Eurasia at a rate of 40 mm a year. This causes earthquakes on both plates, as well as the folding and uplift that has created the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau. Typically this is more of a problem in the monsoon season in July and August, when rainfall often exceeds 650 mm per month in many areas, but the state has a fairly wet climate year round and rainfall in excess of 40-50 mm per month in January-March is not unusual.

The approximate location of the 30 March 2015 Laldan landslide. Google Maps.

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At least 19 dead after landslides and flooding on the India/Pakistan border.

At least 19 people have been killed in landslides and flooding along the border between the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and the Pakistan State of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, associated with the monsoon rains this week. On the Pakistani side of the...

Two killed in landslide in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Two people were killed in a landslide at Lohar Gali near Muzaffarabad in Azad Kashmir on Wednesday 19 March 2014. Dr Mohammed Ashraf Quraishi...

Two teenage girls killed by landslide in Jammu and Kashmir.

Two teenage girls were killed by a landslide at Mundral in Kishtwar District, Jammu and Kashmir, on Sunday 7 July 2013. The two have been named as Sushma...

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Magnitude 4.8 Earthquake to the south of Bohol Island in the Philippines.

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 4.8 Earthquake at a depth of 35 km off the south coast of Bohol Island in the Philippines, slightly before 9.50 am local time (slightly before 1.50 am GMT) on Monday 30 March 2015. There are no reports of any damage or injuries associated with this event, though it was felt across much of Bohol and Cebu islands.

The approximate location of the 30 March 2015 Luzon Earthquake. Google Maps.

The geology of the Philippines is complex, with the majority of the islands located on the east of the Sunda Plate. To the east of this lies the Philippine Sea plate, which is being subducted beneath the Sunda Plate (a breakaway part of the Eurasian Plate); further east, in the Mariana Islands, the Pacific Plate is being subducted beneath the Philippine Sea Plate. This is not a smooth process, and the rocks of the tectonic plates frequently stick together before eventually being broken apart by the rising pressure, leading to Earthquakes in the process.

Subduction beneath the Philippines. Yves Descatoire/Singapore Earth Observatory.

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Magnitude 5.3 Earthquake off the east coast of Luzon Island.

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 5.3 Earthquake at a depth of 10 km about 37 km off the east coast of Luzon Island in the...

Magnitude 5.3 Earthquake off Samar Island, Philippines.

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 5.3 Earthquake at a depth of 38 km, roughly 6 km offshore of the city of Hinundayan in...

Activity on Mount Mayon, Philippines.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology has recorded an increase in seismic activity over the past 24 hours (Saturday 28-Sunday 29 June 2014) beneath Mount Mayon, a 2463 m stratovolcano (cone shaped volcano) on southern Luzon Island. White smoke has also been seen...

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A new species of Capillariid Nematode from New Caledonia.

Capillariid Nematodes are parasitic worms infecting a variety of different Vertebrate hosts. The group is split into 22 genera, of which nine are parasites of Fish. Members of the genus Capillaria cause infections in a wide range of Mammals, Birds, Amphibians, Fish and Sharks, though those infecting marine Fish are poorly known.

In a paper published in the journal Parasite on 23 December 2014, František Moravec of the Institute of Parasitology at the Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and Jean-Lou Justine of the Institut Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle describe a new species of Capillaria from a Leopard Coral Grouper, Plectropomus leopardus, caught off Baie de Koutio, on Nouméa Island, New Caledonia.

The new species is named Capillaria plectropomi, in reference to the host species. Nineteen specimens of both sexes were collected from the intestine of a single Fish; 23 other Leopard Coral Grouper’s inspected yielded no further specimens. The males ranged from 7.52-10.00 mm in length, the females from 9.57–14.24 mm. The cuticle of the Worms were finely striated. The distribution of the species is unknown, but the host is found in the Western Pacific from southern Japan to Australia and eastwards to the Caroline Islands, Fiji and Tonga.

Capillaria plectropomi from Plectropomus leopardus. (A) Anterior end of male, lateral view. (B) Stichocyte in middle part of stichosome. (C) posterior end of male, lateral view. Moravec & Justine (2015).

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Two new species of Pinworms from Sulawesi Soft-furred Rats.

Pinworms, Oxyuridae, are parasitic Nematodes infecting the digestive tracts of Mammals. They have short life cycles, typically undergoing several generations in a year, with eggs being released in the host’s faecal matter to infect new hosts. Some species of Pinworm appear to be quite cosmopolitan, infecting...

A parasitic Heterakid Nematode from Sulawesi.

Parasitic Nematodes of the superfamily Heterakoidea are typified by having three lips, an esophagus with a valved bulb, thick shelled eggs and a pre-anal sucker on the males. They are typically parasites of the digestive tracts of small vertebrates, which do not require an intermediate host (i.e. the species only needs to infect one species of hosts, rather than...

Parasite infections in German soldiers from the Kilianstollen First World War archaeological site.

The science of palaeoparasitology involves the study of parasite remains from palaeontological and archaeological sites. This rarely involves the recovery...

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Twelve confirmed deaths in Javanese landslide.

Twelve people have been confirmed dead following a landslide that hit the village of Tegal Panjang in Sukabumi District in West Java at about 10.30 pm local time on Saturday 28 March 2015. No further people are thought to be missing following the event, which completely buried eleven houses and has led to the displacement of about 300 people.

Rescue workers in the village of Tegal Panjang on Sunday 29 March 2015. AFP.

Landslides are a common problem in Java, particularly in the rainy season, which lasts from October till April, and can result in an annual rainfall in excess of 4000 mm in parts of West Java. Landslides are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by heavy rainfall. This problem has been made worse in West Java as expanding populations has led to people farming higher on hillslopes, in an area where soils tend to be volcanic in action and poorly consolidated (i.e. lack much cohesion), making them more prone to landslides.

The approximate location of the 29 March 2015 Tegal Panjang landslide. Google Maps.

See also...

At least 56 dead following Java landslide.

Fifty six people are now known to have died and another fifty two are still missing following a landslide that demolished over 100 houses in the village of Jemblung in Central Java on Friday 12 December 2014. Over a thousand people are said to be involved in...

Four people killed by landslide in Bogor, West Java.

Four members of one family have been killed in a landslide in the Kampong Ampera area of Bogor city in West Java, Indonesia, after soil collapsing from a hillside destroyed their home on the evening of...

Woman killed by West Java landslide.

A woman has been killed and her husband injured in a landslide in the Cisarua Disrtrict in West Java on Saturday 18 January 2013. Ai Toriah (40) and her husband Tatang, were working on their farm in...

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Asteroid 2015 DJ215 passes the Earth.

Asteroid 2015 DJ215 passed by the Earth at a distance of 12 430 000 km (32.4 times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon, or 8.38% of the average distance between the Earth and the Sun), slightly before 5.30 pm GMT on Sunday 22 March 2015. There was no danger of the asteroid hitting us, though had it done so it would have presented minor threat. 2015 DJ215 has an estimated equivalent diameter of 28-90 m (i.e. it is estimated that a spherical object with the same volume would be 28-90 m in diameter), and an object towards the upper end of this range would be expected to explode in an airburst (an explosion caused by superheating from friction with the Earth's atmosphere, which is greater than that caused by simply falling, due to the orbital momentum of the asteroid) with an energy of over 30 megatons (more than 1760 times the size of the explosion caused by the Hiroshima bomb), less that half a kilometer above the ground, which would be expected to cause considerable damage at ground level, particularly if it occurred in a populated area.

The calculated orbit of 2015 DJ215. JPL Small Body Database.

2015 DJ215 was discovered on 23 February 2015 (27 days before its closest approach to the Earth) by the University of Hawaii's PANSTARRS telescope on Mount Haleakala on Maui. The designation 2015 DJ215 implies that it was the 5384th asteroid (asteroid J215) discovered in the second half of February 2015 (period 2015 D).

2015 DJ215 has an 442 day orbital period and an eccentric orbit tilted at an angle of 4.10° to the plane of the Solar System, which takes it from 0.96 AU from the Sun (i.e. 96% of the average distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun) to 1.31 AU from the Sun (i.e. 131% of the average distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun). It is therefore classed as an Apollo Group Asteroid (an asteroid that is on average further from the Sun than the Earth, but which does get closer). This means that close encounters between 2015 DJ215 and the Earth are quite common, with the last calculated to have happened in March 1980 and the next predicted for September this year. 

See also...

Asteroid 2015 FC117 passes the Earth.

Asteroid 2015 FC117 passed by the Earth at a distance of 6 542 000 km (17.0 times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon, or 4.37% of the average distance between the Earth and the Sun), slightly 6.45 am GMT on Sunday 22 March 2015. There...

Asteroid 2015 EG7 passes the Earth.

Asteroid 2015 EG7 passed by the Earth at a distance of 1 044 000 km (2.72 times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon, or 6.98% of the average distance between the Earth and the Sun), slightly before 9.30 pm GMT on Friday 20 March 2015...

Asteroid 2015 FF passes the Earth. 

Asteroid 2015 FF passed by the Earth at a distance of 1 596 000 km (4.15 times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon, or 10.7% of the average distance between the Earth and the Sun), slightly before 8.30 pm GMT on Friday 20 March 2015...

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Preservation of cellular structures in a fossil Sponge from the Middle Ediacaran of Guizhou Province, China.

Sponges are considered to be the sister group to all other groups of Animals, which is to say all other animals are more closely related to one-another than they are to Sponges and all Sponges are more closely related to one-another than to other Animals, but Sponges and other Animals are more closely related to one-another than they are to anything else. Phylogenetic studies have suggested that the common ancestor of Sponges and other Animals lived in the deep Cryogenian (the geological period that lasted from 850 to 635 million years ago) and a number of putative Sponge fossils have been found from the Cryogenian and Ediacaran (635-540 million years ago), which tends to support this hypothesis. However the simple organization of Sponge bodies, which lack specific tissues and can reform if squeezed through a sieve, makes it very hard to determine if these putative Sponges are true members of the group, or ‘Sponge-grade organisms’, which may be ancestral to Sponges, other Animals, both or neither.

In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America on 9 March 2015, Zongjun Yin and Maoyan Zhu of the State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Eric Davidson of the Division of Biology at the California Institute of Technology, David Bottjer of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Southern California, Fangchen Zhao, also of the State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Paul Tafforeau of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility describe a Sponge-like fossil from the Doushantuo Formation of Guizhou Province, China.

The Doushantuo Formation outcrops across much of South China, and has produced a large number of spectacular microfossils showing a remarkable level of cellular preservation, including fossils interpreted as possible embryos, dating from between 635 and 551 million years ago. Unlike other fossil sites producing such remarkable levels of preservation, it is interpreted as having formed in a high-energy, wave dominated environment, which led to the preservation of small biological particles in phosphatised granules, but not the preservation of larger structures such as body fossils of non-microscopic Animals. The possible Sponge comes from a gray oolitic dolomitic phosphorite layer exposed at the Badoushan Phosphorite Mining Quarry in Weng’an County in Central Guizhou, which is interpreted to be about 600 million years old.

The fossil is named Eocyathispongia qiania, where ‘Eocyathispongia’ means ‘Dawn-cup-shaped-Sponge’ and ‘qiania’ is a term for Guizhou Province. It is approximately 1.2 mm by 1.1 mm, and comprises three cup-shaped tubes emerging from a common base. These tubes have numerous pore-like openings, which if this organism was biologically similar to a modern Sponge would be inflow channels through which the filter-feeding Animal drew water prior to expelling it through the larger openings at the end of each tube. The outer surface of the fossil is covered by flattened cells 8–12 μm in diameter; these are split into two classes, with oval cells being consistently larger than circular ones, implying that cellular differentiation was present (something found in all Animals, including Sponges, but not usually in colonies of single-celled organisms).

Scanning electron micrograph of Eocyathispongia qiania showing the main tubular chamber with a large opening and additional chambers viewed from the exterior. Yin et al. (2015).

Based upon the available data, Yin et al. interpret Eocyathispongia qiania as being a genuine Sponge, albeit one that lived prior to the differentiation of the group into its modern orders. The cellular structure of the fossil resembles modern Sponges, though it does not show preserved choanocyte cells (flagella bearing cells which drive the movement of water through the Sponge) would be the best indicator of a true Sponge, it does have a structure that would be difficult to interpret in any other way, and dates from approximately the same time as the earliest Doushantuo specimens interpreted as Cnidarians (the group that includes modern Jellyfish, Corals and Sea Anemones) and Bilaterians (all animals other than Sponges, Cnidarians and Ctenaphores – Comb Jellies).

See also…

An enigmatic animal from the Australian continental shelf, with possible similarities to some members of the Ediacaran Fauna.

The Ediacaran Fauna comprises a group of fossils from the Late Ediacaran Period, found at sites around the world and pre-dating the Cambrian Explosion, which is considered to indicate the origin of the majority of modern animal groups, and in particular those with mineralized skeletons. Some biologists have suggested that these organisms represent an entirely separate experiment...

A possible Cnidarian from the Late Ediacaran of Newfoundland. 

The fossils of the Ediacaran Period record the first widespread macrofossils in the rock-record. Many of these fossils do not appear to belong to any modern group, but instead are thought to belong to an extinct taxa (sometimes known as ‘Vendobionts’), which may-or-may-not be related to modern Animals, though some fossils have been linked to Sponges (a group which also has...

The oldest animals - Pre-Ediacaran Sponges from Namibia(?)

Sponges are curious creatures. They are considered to be animals as they are multicellular and some of them have fixed body shapes, however they show no cell differentiation, and can be broken down into individual cells (by, for example, forcing them through a sieve) and they will re-assemble themselves without apparent...

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