Otavia
Sign in to saveOtavia antiqua is an ancient sponge-like multicellular organism found in the Otavi Group (the generic name being the namesake) in the Etosha National Park, Namibia. It is claimed to be the oldest animal fossil, being found in rock aged between 760 and 550 million years ago. The oldest Otavia fossils are from the Tonian period, before the Cryogenian glaciations, but the latest found were from the Nama Group rocks of the Ediacaran period.
In the Vinony graph
Vinony's link graph records 12 inbound references to Otavia, and connects out to Porifera, Animalia and Namibia.
Vinony files it under Cryogenian life, Fossils of Namibia and Fossil taxa described in 2012.
Vinony links it to 6 Wikipedia language editions.
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Encyclopedic overview
5 sectionsContents
- Discovery and Naming
- Description
- See also
- References
- Further reading
Otavia antiqua is an ancient sponge-like multicellular organism found in the Otavi Group (the generic name being the namesake) in the Etosha National Park, Namibia. It is claimed to be the oldest animal fossil, being found in rock aged between 760 and 550 million years ago. The oldest Otavia fossils are from the Tonian period, before the Cryogenian glaciations, but the latest found were from the Nama Group rocks of the Ediacaran period.
The affinities of these fossils, along with other paleontological evidence for Precambrian sponges, are disputed.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Otavia” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.