Three-dimensional preservation of algae and animal embryos in a Neoproterozoic phosphorite

Phosphorites of the Doushantuo Formation in southern China have preserved fossils that record in perfect detail, the anatomy and reproductive biology of multicellular algae from the late Neoproterozoic ocean. Their structure shows that they already had many anatomical and reproductive features of modern marine flora. Preserved embryos show that the divergence of lineages resulting in bilaterians, could have occurred well before they appear in geological records.