What are some fossil organisms that are difficult to classify?
Sometimes paleontologists dig up fossils that are difficult to classify. Some fossils are so cryptic that there is no agreement on which animal it belongs to. Some, like Vendozoa, mysterious quilted "mattresses" and bags from Ediacaran, about 600 to 542 million years ago, were preliminarily assigned their own phyles. Others remain unusual, with contradictory interpretations in terms of their affinity. The fossil, whose classification is not known, is referred to as incetae sediis , Latin for "uncertain placement". In Ediacaran, a multicellular life appeared about 600 million years ago. The fossils of this time are so primitive that it's hard to say what they are. One of these fossil organisms is cloudina , one of the first biomineralization organisms, of which only calcium tube remains. Variables Os on fossil organisms either call it a primitive sponge, coral Cnidarian (related jellyfish), or even an early segmented worm.
Fossil organisms of Ediacarani biota are among the most interesting because there are so many and there are few agreements on classification other than a few. Ediacaran Biot included the first known multicellular ecosystems and, as mentioned above, consisted of various bags filled with liquid, leaves and mattresses with a characteristic quilted pattern. One iconic member of Edition Biota, Charnia , looks somewhat like a modern Cnidarian, a marine-past, which leads to some scientists to classify Edicaran biota as Cnidarians without cell stings, but other scientists call them lichens, gigant protists, basal metazoans, bacteria and more. The question is still upset.
Another fossil organisms that have been a challenge to classify come from the Cambrians, which occurred immediately after Ediacaran. One of the most famous is the predatory creation of similar shrimp anomalocaris , whose pieces of ingredients were once considered three different Organisms. Initially, it was assumed that one of her separate "arms" belongs to her crustacean, his mouth, shaped as a pineapple slice, was confused with jellyfish and her body was classified as a sponge. Only in 1985 scientists realized that it was part of the predatory prot-arthropod, the largest known Cambrian predator to the long subway.
other fossil organisms that have proven to be difficult to classify are Cambrian wiwaxia , Opabina , Odontagriphus and many others. After Cambrian, many organisms settle in an established phyla and are easier to classify.