Burykhia
| Burykhia Temporal range: Ediacaran | |
|---|---|
| Reconstruction as a tunicate-like organism | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Subphylum: | Tunicata |
| Class: | Ascidiacea (?) |
| Family: | †Ausiidae |
| Genus: | †Burykhia Fedonkin, Vickers-Rich, Swalla, Trusler & Hall, 2012 |
| Species: | †B. hunti |
| Binomial name | |
| †Burykhia hunti Fedonkin, Vickers-Rich, Swalla, Trusler & Hall, 2012 | |
Burykhia hunti is an Ediacaran fossil from the White Sea region of Russia dating to 555 million years ago. It is considered of possibly ascidian affinity, due to the sac-like morphology and a series of distinctly perforated bands reminiscent of a tunicate pharynx. If B. hunti is a tunicate, it could be the oldest ascidian fossil known as of its publication in 2012. It is also possibly related to the slightly younger Ausia, another putative ascidian from the Vendian biota in Namibia.