Fossil Record
Dickinsonia was first described by Reg Sprigg, the original discoverer of the Ediacaran biota in Australia, who named it after Ben Dickinson, then Director of Mines for South Australia, and head of the government department that employed Sprigg.
Dickinsonia is known from unskeletonised impressions in late Ediacaran quartz sandstones in Ediacara and elsewhere in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia, as well as, Podolia of Ukraine, and the White Sea area and Central Urals of Russia, and has an estimated time range of 560-555 Myr.
Dickinsonia is a "resistant" fossil – that is to say, it is preserved as a (usually concave) cast on the underside of overlying bedding planes—unlike most Ediacaran fronds. Where part and counterparts of the same impression are known, they are separated by as much as 3 mm, with the ribbing most prominent on the top surface; this suggests that the ornament was displayed on the top surface only, and that underlying sand supported the impression.
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