Editing Rangeomorph (section)

== Affinity ==

Rangeomorph communities are similar in structure to those of modern, suspension-feeding animals, but it is difficult to relate their morphology to any modern animals. Early researchers thought they were [[Sea pen|sea pens]] ([[Cnidaria]]), but examination of well-preserved specimens of [[Charnia]] reveals that the branching fronds of rangeomorphs were fundamentally different from sea pens in both anatomy and growth pattern, and the modern consensus is that they are unrelated.<ref name=jba/> Rangeomorphs have at times been assigned to a range of modern animal and protist groups, but none of these classifications has withstood scrutiny;<ref name="Xiao2009">{{Cite journal| last1 = Xiao| last2= Laflamme | first1 = S.| first2 = M.| journal = [[Trends in Ecology and Evolution]]| volume = 24| title = On the eve of animal radiation: phylogeny, ecology and evolution of the Ediacara biota| issue = 1 | pages = 31–40 | date=January 2009 | pmid = 18952316 | doi = 10.1016/j.tree.2008.07.015}}</ref> they probably represent an extinct [[stem group]] to either the animals or fungi.<ref name=Narbonne2004>{{Cite journal| first1 = G. M. | title = Modular Construction of Early Ediacaran Complex Life Forms | journal = Science | volume = 305| issue = 5687| last1 = Narbonne | pages = 1141–1144 | date=August 2004 | issn = 0036-8075| pmid = 15256615 | doi = 10.1126/science.1099727|bibcode = 2004Sci...305.1141N | s2cid = 44647427 | doi-access = free }}</ref>  The fractal construction could be an adaptation to osmotic feeding that evolved independently in different groups, but most paleontologists now consider it to be a basic body characteristic inherited from a shared ancestor, which would mean the rangeomorphs are a natural [[taxon]] of organisms more closely related to each other than to anything else.<ref name=Xiao2009/> The quilted construction suggests a close affinity to the [[erniettomorph]]s, another form taxon of Ediacarans whose bodies were made from sheets of many small tubes.