#Edrathina
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dmcediacaran.bsky.social
#FossilFriday this week is brought to you by the paratypes of #Edrathina from the #InnerMeadow lagerstätte. Both #Ediacaran aged fossils have fallen atop #rangeomorph fossils meaning part of the calyx of both was not impressed onto the seafloor. This kind of evidence suggests an upright life habit.
October 2, 2026 at 11:58 AM
dmcediacaran.bsky.social
We names the #Ediacaran #Edrathina obditchia from #InnerMeadow after we had decided it was a stem ctenophore. Ctenophores are also known as comb-jellies. Following recent convention we have used Beothuk words for naming.

Edrathin means comb & Obditch means beast. So the name means “comb beast”
view looking into the triangular/collapsed cone calyx of Edrathina with the tentacles oriented towards you and the holdfast disc found at the top right. the tentacles have numerous pinnules arising from them and can be seen to arise from the margin of the calyx.
September 26, 2026 at 10:56 PM
dmcediacaran.bsky.social
One of the best bits of being a palaeobiologist is attempting to visualize our weird and wonderful creatures so here is a digital painting of my post-mortem reconstruction of #Edrathina next to the 🐡 #Haootia reconstruction of @bobnichollsart.bsky.social
if you want to read about them free then…
Artistic impression of a collapsed Ediacaran Edrathina showing iridescent collapsed conical calyx and numerous pinnate tentacles. lying on a patchy white microbial mat. lit by imagined diving light. (c) duncan mcilroy Reconstruction of seafloor with Haootia (c) BobNicholls tetraradial haootia responding to a current surrounded by microbial matground Imagined artificial light with passing marine snow (white streaks) Artist reconstruction of Edrathina obditchia (c) duncan mcilroy imagined lighting from artificial dove light calyx conical with six tentacles with pinnae. cranes are inferred to have bee on the inner surface of the pinnae. Compare with the ancient benthic stem-ctenophores of the Cambrian
September 25, 2026 at 11:08 AM
dmcediacaran.bsky.social
Happy #FossilFriday! The Ediacaran of #Newfoundland is famous for its animal fossils. The most iconic are the muscular #Staurozoa #Haootia and #Mamsetia and I think our new 551Ma #Edrathina is probably comparably important , being the oldest relative of comb-jellies, another early animal group.
retrodeformed holotype of Edrathina see strain ellipse branches arise from margin of a calyx which is triangular in shape interpreted as being a relative of the Ctenophores, the similarly shaped stem-ctenophores like Siphosauctum and Dinomischus Holotype of Haootia quadriformis linesr features are interpreted as muscle fibres. It has been interpreted as a crown group Cnidarian comparable to the modern Staurozoa note the tetra-radial form characteristic of that group
September 25, 2026 at 11:08 AM
hoyaboya1.bsky.social
Muirhead-Hunt et al. (2026-09, Front. Ecol. Evol.)
「ニューファンドランド島のFermeuse Formationから産出した，エディアカラン紀のステム有櫛動物Edrathina obditchia」
Edrathina obditchia, an Ediacaran stem-group ctenophore from the Fermeuse Formation of Newfoundland
doi.org/10.3389/fevo...

[Edrathina obditchia gen. et sp. nov.]
（新属新種）
Duncan McIlroy (Heléna Muirhead-Hunt et al.), CC BY 4.0, https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2026.1882499 Heléna Muirhead-Hunt et al., CC BY 4.0, https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2026.1882499
September 25, 2026 at 1:56 PM
dmcediacaran.bsky.social
or if the Frontiers link is not updated yet then try here www.researchgate.net/publication/...
(PDF) Edrathina obditchia, an Ediacaran stem-group ctenophore from the Fermeuse Formation of Newfoundland
PDF | The Ediacaran fossil Edrathina obditchia gen. et sp. nov., is considered herein to be a large soft bodied metazoan with a bauplan that conforms... | Find, read and cite all the research you need...
www.researchgate.net
September 25, 2026 at 11:12 AM
paleogalli.bsky.social
Edrathina obditchia, um ctenóforo basal do Ediacarano da Formação Fermeuse de Terra Nova e Labrador www.frontiersin.org/journals/eco...
Frontiers | Edrathina obditchia, an Ediacaran stem-group ctenophore from the Fermeuse Formation of Newfoundland
The Ediacaran fossil Edrathina obditchia gen. et sp. nov., is considered herein to be a large soft bodied metazoan with a bauplan that conforms most closely ...
www.frontiersin.org
September 25, 2026 at 2:26 PM
hoyaboya1.bsky.social
【巨星現る】
皆さん起きてください！
エディアカラン紀（エディアカラ紀）のステム有櫛動物（クシクラゲ）の新属新種，Edrathina obditchiaが記載されました！！
系統解析では，カンブリア紀のステム有櫛動物Dinomischidae科の姉妹群として復元されています！！
hoyaboya1.bsky.social Hoyaboya @hoyaboya1.bsky.social · 8d
Muirhead-Hunt et al. (2026-09, Front. Ecol. Evol.)
「ニューファンドランド島のFermeuse Formationから産出した，エディアカラン紀のステム有櫛動物Edrathina obditchia」
Edrathina obditchia, an Ediacaran stem-group ctenophore from the Fermeuse Formation of Newfoundland
doi.org/10.3389/fevo...

[Edrathina obditchia gen. et sp. nov.]
（新属新種）
Duncan McIlroy (Heléna Muirhead-Hunt et al.), CC BY 4.0, https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2026.1882499 Heléna Muirhead-Hunt et al., CC BY 4.0, https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2026.1882499
September 25, 2026 at 1:56 PM
dmcediacaran.bsky.social
you can get the open access papers here:

www.frontiersin.org/journals/eco...

doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

And a heres a really great paper on the stem ctenophores here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
if you want to know more about the early history of the Ctenophora
illustration and photographs of the Stem-Ctenopore from Zhao et al. 2019 this is Dinomischus which is considered a close relative of Edrathina in our phylogenetic analyses Do take a look at Zhao it’s a great paper
September 25, 2026 at 11:08 AM
hoyaboya1.bsky.social
Edrathina obditchia, an Ediacaran stem-group ctenophore from the Fermeuse Formation of Newfoundland
www.frontiersin.org/journals/eco...

ついに，来ますね...エディアカラン紀のステム有櫛動物が...（まだabstractのみ公開）．
> The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.
Frontiers | Edrathina obditchia, an Ediacaran stem-group ctenophore from the Fermeuse Formation of Newfoundland
The Ediacaran fossil Edrathina obditchia gen. et sp. nov., is considered herein to be a large soft bodied metazoan with a bauplan that conforms most closely ...
www.frontiersin.org
September 14, 2026 at 6:51 PM