| Uncus dzaugisi Temporal range: late Ediacaran,
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| Artist's interpretation of U. dzaugisi | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Superphylum: | Ecdysozoa |
| Genus: | †Uncus |
| Species: | †U. dzaugisi
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| Binomial name | |
| †Uncus dzaugisi Hughes et al., 2024
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Uncus dzaugisi was a species of animal which lived approximately 560 to 550 million years ago during the late Ediacaran in what is now Southern Australia. Its smooth cylindrical shape, with one end being wider than the other, suggests that it was a member of the clade Ecdysozoa (a group containing arthropods, nematodes and tardigrades, amongst others). This makes it the oldest ecdysozoan known so far,[1] as well as one of the oldest known bilaterians. It is currently the only member of the genus Uncus.
- ^ Nightingale, Sarah (18 November 2024). "Tiny worm makes for big evolutionary discovery". UC Riverside News.
But a UC Riverside-led team has now identified the oldest known ecdysozoan in the fossil record and the only one from the Precambrian period. Their discovery of Uncus dzaugisi, a worm-like creature rarely over a few centimeters in length, is described in a paper published today in Current Biology.
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