List of Ediacaran genera

The existence of life, especially that of animals, before the Cambrian had long been the subject of debate in paleontology. The apparent suddenness of the Cambrian explosion had no firm explanation, and Charles Darwin himself recognized the challenge it posed for his theory of evolution.^[1] While reports of Precambrian organisms have been made since Alexander Murray's 1868 discovery of Aspidella, it wasn't until the discovery of Charnia in 1956 that considerable evidence of Precambrian life had been presented.^[2]

The period immediately preceding the Cambrian, the Ediacaran, is now widely accepted of containing animal life. It spans from 635 to 540 million years ago, and covers approximately 2% of Earth's history. Taxonomists have purported a total of 244 described genera from the Ediacaran, 161 of which are accepted as valid.^[a]