DECONSTRUCTING TAPHONOMY TO RECONSTRUCT THE MORPHOLOGY AND LIFE HABIT OF <i>ATTENBORITES JANEAE</i> AT NILPENA EDIACARA NATIONAL PARK

Abstract Attenborites janeae is a soft-bodied, enigmatic member of the Ediacara Biota with variable internal and external morphology. This taxon is only found within the Ediacara Member of South Australia at Nilpena Ediacara National Park. It occurs rarely across this site but over 100 specimens occur on a single bedding plane, TB-ARB. Previous research has suggested that fossils of Attenborites represent a taphonomically altered form of the true organism which may have been pelagic. Here we use a combination of morphologic and taphonomic methods to reconstruct the most likely morphology and life habit of Attenborites janeae. Evaluating the characteristics of each fossil and the broader bed population, we find that the variable morphology among Attenborites specimens is a product of biostratinomic collapse and that these fossils represent the deflated form of living organisms that were most likely globose and radially symmetrical. We employ the 3D modeling software Blender to conduct inflation simulations on laser-scanned meshes of each fossil to reconstruct the original morphology. To determine the most likely life habit of Attenborites, we examine the broader sedimentological and preservational context of the taxon. We find a pelagic life habit most parsimonious, consistent with the original hypothesis and the reconstructed morphology, rendering Attenborites the only Ediacara taxon to be supported as pelagic based on both taphonomic and morphological evidence.