Lesson plan
Rangea
Rangea is a frond-like Ediacaran fossil with six-fold radial symmetry. It is the type genus of the rangeomorphs. Rangea was the first complex Precambrian macrofossil named and described anywhere in the world. Rangea was a centimetre- to decimetre-scale frond characterised by a repetitive pattern of self-similar branches and a sessile benthic lifestyle. Fossils are typically preserved as moulds and casts exposing only a leafy petalodium, and the rarity and incompleteness of specimens has made it difficult to reconstruct the three-dimensional (3D) morphology of the entire organism. Fossilized Rangea consists of several vanes. Each vane has a foliate shape with a series of recessed furrows that run outwards at varying angles from a prominent smooth median zone to define a series of chevron-like units called quilts. The quilts are arranged in two rows, that is, as long petaliform primary quilts and short lanceolate subsidiary quilts. The subsidiary quilts pinch out a short distance from the median zone as the primary quilts expand whereas the primary quilts extend to the edge of the frond where they taper bluntly. In no specimen can an exact total of primary quilts be counted, on account of either missing areas or incomplete preservation.…
Article summary
Rangea is a frond-like Ediacaran fossil with six-fold radial symmetry. It is the type genus of the rangeomorphs. Rangea was the first complex Precambrian macrofossil named and described anywhere in the world. Rangea was a centimetre- to decimetre-scale frond characterised by a repetitive pattern of self-similar branches and a sessile benthic lifestyle. Fossils are typically preserved as moulds and casts exposing only a leafy petalodium, and the rarity and incompleteness of specimens has made it difficult to reconstruct the three-dimensional (3D) morphology of the entire organism. Fossilized Rangea consists of several vanes. Each vane has a foliate shape with a series of recessed furrows that run outwards at varying angles from a prominent smooth median zone to define a series of chevron-like units called quilts. The quilts are arranged in two rows, that is, as long petaliform primary quilts and short lanceolate subsidiary quilts. The subsidiary quilts pinch out a short distance from the median zone as the primary quilts expand whereas the primary quilts extend to the edge of the frond where they taper bluntly. In no specimen can an exact total of primary quilts be counted, on account of either missing areas or incomplete preservation.…
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
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