A widely distributed group of soft-bodied marine organisms that are preserved as fossils in rocks of latest Proterozoic age (600–543 million years ago; Ma). The biota characterizes a geological period, known as the Ediacarian or the Vendian, which precedes the widespread appearance of animals with mineralized skeletons. The name Ediacara refers to an abandoned mining area about 380 mi (600 km) north of Adelaide, South Australia.