Auroralumina attenboroughii: a crown-group cnidarian from the Ediacaran of Charnwood Forest, Leicestershire, UK

[ceratopsian]

Here's a link to the basic BBC report:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-62291954

The paper is in Nature Ecology and Evolution and open access:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-022-01807-x

[Faelrin]

Wow what an excellent find. Cnidarians are pretty rare in the fossil record as far as I'm aware because of their softer body parts. But to find one with good preservation and from as far back as the Ediacaran period is wonderful news. Lovely looking organism too. Reminds me of anemones in a way, but if also mixed with a crinoid. Also great to see it preserved next to Charnia and Bradgatia, which helps gives an idea about the ancient ecosystem it lived in. And of course the name is lovely too, and another wonderful tribute to Sir David Attenborough.

[Halichoeres]

That is very cool to find a member of the crown group that far back. @Faelrin you're right that cnidarians (except corals) need very special conditions to fossilize, but those conditions do seem to have been a little more widespread in the Ediacaran and Cambrian than they were later on.