Miaolingian Epoch (Series 3)

Age of the Burgess Shale

The Miaolingian Epoch (509-497 Ma) is a time period in the Cambrian Period that occurs after Series 2 (Cambian), and before the Furongian.

Possible evidence for land-based spores during Middle Cambrian, although the affinities of these spores is unknown (Taylor & Strother, 2008, 2009; Strother 2016)
- There may be land plants, or possibly algae, or even transitional embryophyte-charophyte organisms
- Indirect evidence of Cambrian land plants also comes from carbon isotopic composition of carbonaceous debris and sediments (Tomescu & Rothwell, 2006; Tomescu et al., 2009), and from chemical and textural profile differentiation of clayey Cambrian paleosols (Retallack, 2008, 2009, 2015).
Earliest evidence of Spartobranchus tenuis, a member of the acorn worms group