Mistaken Point - Fossil Ecosystems of North America: A Guide to the Sites and their Extraordinary Biotas - page 21

Charnia
At least two distinct species of Charnia are
known. C. masoni is the same species of
segmented frond originally described
from Charnwood Forest in England by
Trevor Ford. It has a leaf-shaped
appearance with lateral branches ( 21, 22 ),
is sometimes found attached to a discoidal

holdfast, and is generally accepted as a
sea pen, an extant group of cnidarians.
A recently described new species, C. wardi
(Narbonne and Gehling, 2003), from
the Drook Formation, represents both
the largest known Ediacaran fossil, up
to nearly 2 m (6 ft) in length, and the
oldest.

21

21 The frond-like Charnia
masoni from the Mistaken
Point Formation at Mistaken
Point. Coin 30 mm 1.2 in in
diameter.

2 2

22 Reconstruction of Charnia.