INTEGRATED ICHNOLOGY AND STRATIGRAPHY OF THE LATE EDIACARAN NASEP-HUNS TRANSITION (NAMA GROUP, SOUTHERN NAMIBIA)

The Late Ediacaran Huns-Nasep transition (Urusis Formation, Nama Group) of southern Namibia preserves an unusually dense assemblage of trace fossils, including multiple ichnotaxa on bedding planes, and what likely represent the oldest ‘complex’ trace fossils known from the fossil record. However, the true ichnofaunal diversity of the Nasep and Huns Members remains largely undescribed. Here, we present a comprehensive description and identification of trace fossils in these members, and integrate them within meter-scale log sections and a broader paleoenvironmental analysis. We discuss how these trace fossil assemblages may offer important new data on both rates and patterns of bilaterian evolution, an intensification of metazoan ecosystem engineering, as well as facies- and taphonomic controls on the latest Neoproterozoic rise of animals.