Hiemalora is a fossil

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

 of the Ediacaran biota, reaching around 3 cm in diameter, which superficially resembles a sea anemone

Sea anemone

Sea anemones are a group of water-dwelling, predatory animals of the order Actiniaria; they are named after the anemone, a terrestrial flower. Sea anemones are classified in the phylum Cnidaria, class Anthozoa, subclass Zoantharia. Anthozoa often have large polyps that allow for digestion of larger...

. The genus has a sack-like body with faint radiating lines originally interpreted as tentacle

Tentacle

A tentacle or bothrium is one of usually two or more elongated flexible organs present in animals, especially invertebrates. The term may also refer to the hairs of the leaves of some insectivorous plants. Usually, tentacles are used for feeding, feeling and grasping. Anatomically, they work like...

s, but discovery of a frond-like structure seemingly attached to some Heimalora has added weight to a competing interpretation: that it represents the holdfast

Holdfast

A holdfast is a root-like structure that anchors aquatic sessile organisms, such as seaweed, other sessile algae, stalked crinoids, benthic cnidarians, and sponges, to the substrate. ...

 of a larger organism. This interpretation would stand against its original classification in the medusoid Cnidaria

Cnidaria

Cnidaria is a phylum containing over 9,000 species of animals found exclusively in aquatic and mostly marine environments. Their distinguishing feature is cnidocytes, specialized cells that they use mainly for capturing prey. Their bodies consist of mesoglea, a non-living jelly-like substance,...

; it would also consign a once-popular hypothesis placing Hiemalora in the chondrophore

Chondrophore

The chondrophores or porpitids are a small and very unusual group of hydrozoans today classified as family Porpitidae. Though it derives from an outdated name for this lineage , some still find the term "chondrophore" useful as a synonym to "porpitid" in discussions of the three genera contained...

s, on the basis of its tentacle structure, to the dustbin. Studies testing the feasibility of hypothesis investigated the possibilities that such fragile tentacles could be preserved, and concluded that it would be very improbable — especially as many Hiemalora bearing beds also contain such fossils as Cyclomedusa

Cyclomedusa

Cyclomedusa is a circular fossil of the Ediacaran biota; it has a circular bump in the middle and as many as five circular growth ridges around it. Many specimens are small, but specimens in excess of 20cm are known. The concentric disks are not necessarily circular, especially when adjacent...

, but do not preserve the tentacles on these organisms.

Heimalora has been identified in a wide range of facies and locations globally.

Etymology

The genus was originally named Pinegia, but was renamed two years later when it was realised that a genus of Permian insect already bore the name.
The revised name comes from: