Beothukis

Beothukis
Temporal range: Ediacaran
B. plumosa fossil
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Petalonamae
Clade: Rangeomorpha
Genus: Beothukis
Brasier and Antcliffe, 2009
Type species
B. mistakensis
Brasier and Antcliffe, 2009
Species
  • B. mistakensis Brasier and Antcliffe, 2009
  • B. plumosa (Laflamme et al., 2012)
Synonyms
  • Culmofrons Laflamme et al., 2012

Beothukis is a rare fossil frond-like member of the Rangeomorpha, described from the Ediacaran of Mistaken Point, Newfoundland. It had been identified since 1992, referred in papers as a "spatulate frond" or "flat recliner", but not formally described until 2009. The original fossils from which the genus has been described are still in situ, but replicas are preserved at the Memorial University of Newfoundland and at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Claims of a stem have been contentious, and based largely on structures that have subsequently been determined to be erosional scours, and is so considered to be a recliner