POSSIBLE ASPIDELLA FROM THE EDIACARAN WOOD CANYON FORMATION, NYE COUNTY, NV, USA

The late Ediacaran lower Wood Canyon Formation in Nye County, Nevada, has shown significant paleontological promise in recent years. Investigations in the Johnnie Range between the Amargosa Desert and Pahrump Valley have revealed a diverse assemblage of pyritized tubicolous fossils, with rare examples showing the preservation of bilaterian-grade throughguts, limited specimens of erniettomorphs, and abundant trace fossils approaching the Cambrian boundary. Here, we report both in-situ and float examples of Aspidella-like structures from sandstones near the Stirling Quartzite-Wood Canyon boundary. These structures range in size from approximately 2 to 5 centimeters in diameter and show the quintessential discoidal morphology of Aspidella, including type morph and flat morph specimens, Gehling (2000), with visible concentric rings. Preserved in positive relief on the surfaces of desert-varnished coarse quartz sand beds, these specimens are generally not closely clustered – with the exception of multiple individuals (>10) found on a single piece of float (with a bedding surface of approx. 550 cm2). Given the absence of associated frond petalodia, we suggest that these structures could represent free-living jellies, though more work is needed to fully describe them and to determine their biogenicity. If they are indeed biological, these possible Aspidella would serve to bolster previous reports of soft-bodied organisms (erniettomorphs) fossilized via Ediacaran-type ‘death mask’ or perhaps Fermeuse-like preservation from this locality.