Australia 2005 Creatures of the Slime
- Issue Date : 21 April 2005
- Designed by : Belinda Marshall
- Illustrated by: Peter Trusler
- Printed by : SNP Sprint
- Print Process : Lithography
- Perforations : 14 x 14¾
- Stamp size: 37.5mm x 26mm
- Format: sheets of 50 (two panes of 25)
Contents
Description
This stamp issue focuses on the world's first animals - multicellular organisms; some probably related to worms, jellyfish, and snails, dating back some 560 million years.
Known as Ediacaran fossils, predating dinosaurs by million of years, these creatures have a particular connection to Australia. They are named after the Ediacara Hills of the World Heritage Site Flinders Ranges in South Australia. This is one of the four best places in the world where fossils on these first animals can be found.
Of the 100 to 150 different species which have been discovered worldwide, between 30 and 40 are found in the Flinders Ranges. In 1946, an Australian mining geologist named Reginald C. Sprigg found fossilized imprints. The name "Ediacaran" comes from an Aboriginal world meaning "veinlike spring" of water.
Sheet Stamps
50c Tribrachidium Stamp
Tribrachidium may have lived on the sea floor.
50c Dickinsonia Stamp
Dickinsonia was a “germ eater” having a very elegant form.
50c Spriggina Stamp
Spriggina was somewhat between an arthropod and a segmented annelid worm.
 50c Spriggina |
50c Kimberella Stamp
Kimberella was probably a soft shelled mollusk.
50c Inaria Stamp
Inaria may be one of the oldest fossils of an animal showing the entire body.
$1 Charniodiscus Stamp
Charniodiscus was a feather-like organism.
Strip of 5
Miniature Sheet
- Miniature sheet size: 170mm x 210mm
Glow in the dark ink was used on the miniature sheet margins.
First Day Covers
The first day of issue postmark was GPO Sydney NSW 2000. The miniature sheet used on the first day cover measures 170mm x 87mm. This size was only available on the first day cover.
