Dictyophycus

Dictyophycus is a putative red alga of the middle Cambrian Burgess shale.[1] While alive, it formed leaf-like lobes about 25mm across. The fossils do not preserve the leaf-like membrane, so only the sturdier "skeleton" is known; these are usually broken and detached from their holdfast. 308 specimens of Dictyophycus are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 0.59% of the community.[2]

Dictyophycus
Temporal range: Middle Cambrian, 520 Ma
↓
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
(unranked):
Archaeplastida
Division:
Rhodophyta
Genus:
Dictyophycus
Species:
D. gracilis
Binomial name
Dictyophycus gracilis
Walcott 1919

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. Caron, Jean-Bernard; Jackson, Donald A. (October 2006). "Taphonomy of the Greater Phyllopod Bed community, Burgess Shale". PALAIOS. 21 (5): 451–65. doi:10.2110/palo.2003.P05-070R. JSTOR 20173022.


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