Funisia
{{Short description|Genus of animal discovered as an Australian fossil}}
{{Italic title}}
{{distinguish|Tunisia}}
{{use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{use Australian English|date=December 2022}}
{{Taxobox
| name = Funisia
| image = Funisia (science).jpg
| image_caption = Funisia specimens, as illustrated in the original article
| fossil_range = Ediacaran,
about {{fossilrange|555}}
| regnum = Animalia
| phylum = incertae sedis
| genus = {{extinct}}Funisia
| genus_authority = Droser & Gehling, 2008
| binomial = {{extinct}}Funisia dorothea
| binomial_authority = Droser & Gehling, 2008
}}
Funisia is a genus of animal containing the single species F. dorothea. It is an extinct animal from the Ediacaran biota, discovered in South Australia in 2008 by Mary L. Droser and James G. Gehling.
Description
Funisia, a sedentary animal resembling an upright worm, stood about {{cvt|0.3|m}} tall.{{cite news | url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article3593959.ece | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080727010504/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article3593959.ece | url-status = dead | archive-date = 27 July 2008 | date = March 21, 2008 | title = Fossil sheds light on the history of sex | work = The Times | location=London | first=Lewis | last=Smith | accessdate=2010-05-03}}{{cite news | url = http://www.enn.com/sci-tech/article/33330 | title = Early life on Earth - no predators, plenty of sex | publisher = Reuters | date=21 March 2008 }}{{cite news | url = http://www.physorg.com/news125241587.html | title = Research shows Earth's earliest animal ecosystem was complex and included sexual reproduction | date = March 20, 2008 }} Source: University of California - Riverside via physorg.com Because individuals grew in dense collections of animals the same age, it is believed to have reproduced sexually, as well as reproduced by budding like modern sponges and corals. Although the evolution of sex took place before the origin of animals, and evidence of sexual reproduction is observed in red algae {{Ma|1200}},{{cite journal| first1 = N. J. | title = Bangiomorpha pubescens n. gen., n. sp.: implications for the evolution of sex, multicellularity, and the Mesoproterozoic/Neoproterozoic radiation of eukaryotes | url = https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/paleobiol/issue/26/3 | accessdate = 2021-06-16 | journal = Paleobiology | volume = 26 | issue = 3 | pages = 386–404 | date = 2000-09-01| last1 = Butterfield| issn = 0094-8373 | doi = 10.1666/0094-8373(2000)026<0386:BPNGNS>2.0.CO;2 | s2cid = 36648568 }} Funisia is one of the oldest known animals for which there is evidence of sexual reproduction.
Its relationship to other animals is unknown, but it may belong within the Porifera (sponges), Cnidaria, a basal metazoan similar to spongesD. H. Erwin, M. Laflamme, S., M. Tweedt, E. A. Sperling, D. Pisani, and K. J. Peterson. 2011. The Cambrian Conundrum: Early Divergence and Later Ecological Success in the Early History of Animals. Science 334(6059):1091-1097 or an early varisarcan vendobiont.{{cite journal |last1=Cavalier-Smith |first1=Thomas |title=Origin of animal multicellularity: precursors, causes, consequences—the choanoflagellate/sponge transition, neurogenesis and the Cambrian explosion |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |date=5 February 2017 |volume=372 |issue=1713 |pages=20150476 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2015.0476|pmc=5182410 }}
The genus and species were described in a 2008 paper.{{cite journal | journal = Science | date = 21 March 2008 | volume = 319 | issue = 5870 | pages = 1660–1662 | doi = 10.1126/science.1152595 | title = Synchronous Aggregate Growth in an Abundant New Ediacaran Tubular Organism | author1 = Mary L. Droser |author2= James G. Gehling | pmid = 18356525| s2cid = 23002564 }}
Etymology
The generic name Funisia is after the Latin "rope", and is pronounced to rhyme with Tunisia.[http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/319/5870/1660/DC1 Supporting online material]
The name dorothea is in honour of Dorothy Droser, the mother of Mary L. Droser, one of the scientists who studied the organism.
See also
References
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{{Taxonbar|from1=Q15104340|from2=Q2084726}}
Category:Enigmatic prehistoric animal genera