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'Dactyloichnus finkoi' is a new genera of Ediacaran microbial mat body fossil. It was discovered in the Vendian Mohyliv suite of the Bernashivka Quarry in Ukraine by well-known Ukranian paleontologist Volodymyr Grytsenko in 2016. Because it is such a new fossil, not much is known about it. Even the subject of whether it is an ichnofossil or a body fossil. The only avalible english source, The National Museum of Natural History, NAS of Ukraine Kytv calls it a microbial mat imprint fossil. Becasue all soft body and ichnofossils are technically imprint fossils, this information is not very helpful. On top of the vague classification from the National Museum of Natural History, the description given is very vague and does not really touch on interpretation or anything other than the fossil's physical appearance. Therefore, the taxonomy, and ecology interpretations for this fossil are all conjecture based on interpretations of other microbial mat fossils in the Vendian Mohyliv suite of the Bernashivka Quarry.

Physical Description
The fossil, Dactyloichnus finkoi, is of a bacterial mat with traces of eating. It has weakly graphic twisting and left imprints upon the bottom surface roughly 2mm apart. The imprints resemble human fingerprints, giving way to the generic name Dactyloichnus, from the greek ‘daktylos’ meaning finger. The species name finkoi was given in honor of Sergiy Finko-an ametur collector of Vendian animal imprint and ichnofossil samples.

Ecology and Taxonomy
The Bernashivka Quarry in the Vendian (Ediacaran) strata of Ukraine contains many microbial mat fossils, most of which are cyanobacteria. Thus, we can infer that Dactyloichnus finkoi was of this nature, especially considering that the primary source for the fossil did not indicate presence of animal eating. Another point in favor of Dactyloinchnus finkoi being a collection of cyanobacteria colonies is that the photosynthetic nature of the bacteria would keep the colonies away from many Ediacaran predators and the morphology of the fossil. The uniformly spaced ridges indicate multiple colonies, rather than just one in the area. On top of that, the image shows fading on the sides, further evidence that this fossil is likely that of multiple cyanobacteria colonies.

Cyanobacteria
Cyanobacteria are an incredibly diverse phylum of photosynthetic blue-green bacteria that still exist today. They mostly exist in inland water mats. The name 'Cyanobacteria' is derived from from the bluish pigment phycocyanin, which they use to capture light for photosynthesis. They are also very important to the global biome as they are very important to the Nitrogen Cycle. They can convert atmospheric nitrogen into gases like nitrate and ammonia which are more useful to living things.