413 / Paleozoic
Margaretia
Margaretia dorus
A perforated tube once treated as an animal is now linked to a branching alga.
View original image · 1600 × 1067- Time range
- About 508 million years ago
- Final stage
- Middle Cambrian
- Geographic range
- Shallow seafloor · Canada and China
01 / DEFINITION & ECOLOGY
What was Margaretia?
Margaretia (Margaretia dorus) was an extinct organism known from About 508 million years ago, with a range in Shallow seafloor · Canada and China.
Life and ecology
This probable green alga grew as an upright or trailing hollow thallus.
02 / DISAPPEARANCE
Why did Margaretia disappear?
Algal communities changed after the Cambrian, but this does not establish why the form disappeared.
03 / EVIDENCE
How do scientists know about Margaretia?
Burgess Shale-type fossils preserve regular openings and changed the reconstruction through organ association.
04 / SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Check the source record
Use the scientific name to compare taxonomy, occurrence records and the fossil record. Database coverage and classifications may differ.
05 / REVISION HISTORY
How has this record changed?
- Rewrote an extinction cause that presented environmental or faunal turnover as established; it is now given as context the record does not prove.
- Verified authoritative entity sources and added three responsive reconstruction sizes.
- Initial bilingual species record published.
06 / CORRECTIONS & ADDITIONS