Obamus Temporal range: Ediacaran ~
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Artist's reconstruction | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | incertae sedis |
Genus: | †Obamus Dzaugis et al., 2020 |
Species: | †O. coronatus
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Binomial name | |
†Obamus coronatus Dzaugis et al., 2020
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Obamus coronatus is a torus-shaped Ediacaran fossil from the Rawnsley Quartzite of South Australia named in honor of former American President Barack Obama by the lab of Mary L. Droser.[1]
The fossils show a multi-ridged body embedded in the biofilm of the original environment, with one end of the body tucked into or beneath the other end to form a ring, so that the living organism would have resembled a French cruller doughnut.[2]
The generic epithet honors President Obama, partly in reference to his love and patronage of the sciences, and partly because the fossil organisms resemble his ear.[1][3] The specific epithet, coronatus, meaning "equipped with a wreath" (or "crowned"), refers to the torus or ring-shape of the fossils.[1]