Rangeomorphs look roughly like fern fronds or feathers arranged around a central axis; the group is defined as Ediacarans with a similar appearance and structure to the genus Rangea.

[1] Rangeomorphs dwelt in shallow to abyssal marine environments,[2] were unable to move, and had no apparent reproductive organs.

This structure may have made it possible for osmotrophic organisms to grow to large sizes [3][4] However, other researchers argue this way of life is implausible, and suggest filter feeding or other mechanisms.

Analysis suggests that the genus Fractofusus could reproduce in two ways, first by setting a particle of tissue loose in the ocean to land on the sea floor and develop into a new individual (a "grandparent"), and second, by "grandparents" spreading rapidly with stolons to form surrounding groups of smaller "parent" and "child" fronds, just as modern plants such as strawberries spread by runners.

This evidence suggests rangeomorphs may have fed by absorbing nutrients from the bacterial mats, and might even have been colonial organisms (such as corals are today) rather than groups of unrelated individuals.

[1] The fractal construction could be an adaptation to osmotic feeding that evolved independently in different groups, but most paleontologists now consider it to be a basic body characteristic inherited from a shared ancestor, which would mean the rangeomorphs are a natural taxon of organisms more closely related to each other than to anything else.

[7] The quilted construction suggests a close affinity to the erniettomorphs, another form taxon of Ediacarans whose bodies were made from sheets of many small tubes.