Cloudinidae, (plural:Cloudinids) is an early metazoan family containing the genus Cloudina, which lived during the Late Ediacaran period and became extinct at the base of the Cambrian. They formed millimeter-scale conical fossils consisting of calcareous cones nested within one another; the appearance of the organism itself remains unknown. The name Cloudina honors the 20th century geologist and paleontologist Preston Cloud.