Fossil Microorganism Genera

Fossil Microorganism Genera is a Browse By group of the Nature Atlas that gathers extinct genera of microorganisms and microbial colonies known only from ancient rocks, such as Avannacystis, a spherical microorganism from the Middle Cambrian of North Greenland, and Beltanelliformis, a discoid fossil of the Ediacaran period that may record large colonies of cyanobacteria. An entry belongs here when its own cited article states that the genus is extinct and known from fossils. It excludes genera that are alive today. The true biological identity of many of these fossils is still debated, so the group collects some of the oldest and least certain records of microscopic life in one place.