Discovery of Corallina fossil from the Middle Cambrian of Taijiang County, Guizhou Province, China

Abundant and well-preserved macroalgae fossils have been discovered in silty mudstones and shales from the Middle Cambrian of Taijiang County, Guizhou Province, China. Corallina Paraamphiroa siniansis gen. et sp. nov. in the Kaili Fm., is the earliest Corallina fossil, which usually coexists with other carbonaceous macroalgae fossils on the bedding planes of mudstone and shale and is different from the calcareous and phosphatized Precambrian-Cambrian thallus discovered in the Lower Cambrian of Siberia and the Doushantou phosphate rocks of Weng’an County, Guizhou Province, China. The discovery of calcified thallus in the Kaili Fm. bears great importance on the study of phylogeny and evolution of early calcareous macroalgae.