Noffkarkys
{{Short description|Extinct genus of plants}}
{{more citations needed|date=September 2020}}
{{one source|date=January 2023}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = Late Ediacaran, {{fossil range|earliest=|567|550|latest=530}}
| image = Noffkarkys storaaslii.jpg
| image_caption = Holotype of Noffkarkys storaaslii, from Ediacaran Grant Bluff Formation, Central Mount Stuart, Australia
| taxon = Noffkarkys
| authority = Retallack and Broz (2020)
| type_species = †Noffkarkys storaaslii
| type_species_authority = Retallack and Broz (2020)
}}
Noffkarkys ("net of Noffke") is a genus of problematic fossil first found in the Ediacaran (550 million years old) Grant Bluff Formation of Central Mount Stuart, Northern Territory, Australia, and another prostrate frond-like fossil.{{cite journal| journal=Historical Biology| title=Arumberia and other Ediacaran fossils from central Australia|author1=Retallack, G.J. |author2=Broz, A.P. | volume=32| pages=17552811|year=2020|doi=10.1080/08912963.2020.1755281| s2cid=219432483}} The genus was named in honor of Nora Noffke.
Description
Noffkarkys is an Ediacaran fossil frond with a fine pattern of rhombic quilts radiating from the base which does not include a rounded holdfast. Like other Ediacaran frond such as Trepassia which also lacks a holdfast,{{cite journal| journal=Geological Magazine| title=Palaeobiology of the reclining rangeomorph Beothukis from the Ediacaran Mistaken Point Formation of southeastern Newfoundland|author1=McIlroy,D. |author2=Hawco,J.|author3=McKean,C.| author4=Nicholls, R.|author5=Pasinetti, G.|author6=Taylor, R.|volume=159| pages=1160–1174|year=2022| issue=7|doi=10.1017/S0016756820000941| bibcode=2022GeoM..159.1160M}} Noffkarkys may have lived prone on the substrate. The fine quilting extends deep into the matrix from the upper side as seen in petrographic thin sections.{{cite journal| journal=Journal of Palaeosciences| title=Internal structure of Cambrian vendobionts Arumberia, Hallidaya, and Noffkarkys preserved by clay in Montana, USA.|author1=Retallack, G.J. | volume=71| pages=1–18|year=2022|doi=10.54991/jop.2022.539| doi-access=free}}
Biological affinities
Noffkarkys is a problematic fossil like many Ediacaran genera, and is one of the few vendobionts that persisted into the Cambrian Affinities may be with sea pens or lichens.