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 PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
(unranked):	Archaeplastida
Division:	Rhodophyta
Genus:	Dictyophycus
Species:	D. gracilis
Binomial name
Dictyophycus gracilis Walcott 1919