SPRIGG, GLAESSNER AND WADE AND THE DISCOVERY AND INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF THE EDIACARAN FAUNA

Abstract

Reg Sprigg was a young geologist when he found Ediacaran fossils in the hills of the western Flinders Ranges of South Australia. At first not taken seriously by his mentors, the reality of his fossils and the true age of his finds were recognized by the late 1940s. Research on these oldest known metazoans of the time was then carried out by Martin Glaessner and his student, Mary Wade, who first studied Foraminifera. Sprigg was not included in this research but took a different path pursuing a career as an economic geologist and founding Santos. Wade and Glaessner interpreted their Ediacaran fossils as worms and jellyfish, but more recent interpretations have led to very different conclusions.