Marpolia has been interpreted as a
cyanobacterium, but also resembles the modern
cladophorangreen algae. It is known from the Middle Cambrian
Burgess shale[1] and Early Cambrian deposits from the Czech Republic.[2] 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.[1] 40 specimens of Marpolia are known from the Greater
Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 0.08% of the community.[3]