''Tawuia'' is a millimetric disc or sausage-shaped, most likely multicellular (although

coenocytic A coenocyte () is a multinucleate cell which can result from multiple nuclear divisions without their accompanying cytokinesis, in contrast to a syncytium, which results from cellular aggregation followed by dissolution of the cell membranes i ...

)

macrofossil Macrofossils, also known as megafossils, are the preserved remnants of organic beings and their activities that are large enough to be visible without a microscope. The term ''macrofossil'' stands in opposition to the term microfossil. Microfoss ...

from the

Proterozoic The Proterozoic ( ) is the third of the four geologic eons of Earth's history, spanning the time interval from 2500 to 538.8 Mya, and is the longest eon of Earth's geologic time scale. It is preceded by the Archean and followed by the Phanerozo ...

. The fossils are often preserved as organic compressions. They are sometimes considered to represent microbial structures; some authors affiliate them with

slime mold Slime mold or slime mould is an informal name given to a polyphyletic assemblage of unrelated eukaryotic organisms in the Stramenopiles, Rhizaria, Discoba, Amoebozoa and Holomycota clades. Most are near-microscopic; those in the Myxogastria ...

s. However, ''Tawuia'' is instead likely an

alga Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular microalgae, suc ...

, as sub-cellular structures supporting this have been preserved.

Stratigraphic Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithost ...

ally, they range from to the early

Cambrian The Cambrian ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordov ...

References

Precambrian life Cambrian extinctions Enigmatic eukaryote taxa {{Paleo-biota-stub