Marpolia (original) (raw)

Marpolia has been interpreted as a cyanobacterium, but also resembles the modern cladophoran green algae. It is known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess shale and Early Cambrian deposits from the Czech Republic. 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. 40 specimens of Marpolia are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 0.08% of the community.