Marpolia

Marpolia Temporal range: Upper early Cambrian–Middle Cambrian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Fossil of Marpolia from the Burgess Shale
Restoration model at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana
Scientific classification
Domain:	Bacteria
Phylum:	Nostocales
Genus:	Marpolia Walcott, 1919
Species:	M. spissa
Binomial name
Marpolia spissa Walcott, 1919

Marpolia has been interpreted as a cyanobacterium, but also resembles the modern cladophoran green algae. It is known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale ^[1] and Early Cambrian deposits from the Czech Republic. ^[2] It comprises a dense mass of entangled, twisted filaments. It may have been free-floating or grown on other objects, although there is no evidence of attachment structures. ^[1] 40 specimens of Marpolia are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 0.08% of the community. ^[3]

References

1. Briggs, D. E. G.; Erwin, D. H.; Collier, F. J. (1995), Fossils of the Burgess Shale , Washington: Smithsonian Inst Press, ISBN   1-56098-659-X, OCLC   231793738
2. Steiner, Michael; Fatka, Oldrich (November 1996). "Lower Cambrian tubular micro- to macrofossils from the Paseky Shale of the Barrandian area (Czech Republic)" (PDF). Paläontologische Zeitschrift. 70: 275–299. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-26.
3. Caron, Jean-Bernard; Jackson, Donald A. (October 2006). "Taphonomy of the Greater Phyllopod Bed community, Burgess Shale". PALAIOS. 21 (5): 451–65. Bibcode:2006Palai..21..451C. doi:10.2110/palo.2003.P05-070R. JSTOR   20173022. S2CID   53646959.

External links

• "Marpolia spissa". Burgess Shale Fossil Gallery. Virtual Museum of Canada. 2011. Archived from the original on 2020-11-12. Retrieved 2023-01-21.