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Permineralized fossils of the terminal Proterozoic (600-550 Ma) Doushantuo Formation, China, provide an unusually clear window on biological diversity just before the Ediacaran radiation. In the eastern Yangtze Gorges region, cherts in lower and upper Doushantuo carbonates preserve prokaryotes and protists from subtidal marine environments below and above fair weather wave base, respectively. Phosphorites in the Weng'an district to the south contain diverse acanthomorphic acritarchs as well as cellularly preserved thalloid algae. Twelve taxa of probable cyanobacteria are recognized. None is endemic to the Doushantuo Formation, and most have long stratigraphic ranges. The apparent restriction of two species to late Neoproterozoic and Cambrian rocks may reflect secular variation in taphonomic circumstance rather than evolution. Thirty-one species of spheromorphic and acanthomorphic acritarchs are recognized, about half of which occur elsewhere in rocks of the same approximate age. At least some of the eight formally described species of multicellular algae can be assigned with confidence to the Rhodophyta; these fossils provide a glimpse of structural and reproductive diversity in Neoproterozoic algae that is, to date, unique. Several reports of Doushantuo animal fossils have been published; most compelling are triact spicules identified in chert nodules. Along with more than two dozen taxa of compressed macrofossils preserved in carbonaceous shales from the top of the formation, Doushantuo permineralizations indicate that large animals radiated into a world rich in prokaryotic, protistan, and, even, multicellular diversity.

Focuses on phosphorites of the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation at Weng'an, Guizhou, South China, which contain microfossils characterized by sculpted coverings and patterns of cell division. Reinterpretation of the forms assigned to the genera Megasphaera and Parapandorina; Difference of the from volvocacean or algae; Absence of adult morphologies to link the genera.

Studies the morphological reconstruction of Miaohephyton bifurcatum, a brown alga from the Neoproterozoic doushantuo Formation in South China. Characteristics of Miaohephyton; Diversification of photosynthetic stramenopiles during the Neoproterozoic Era along with the red and green algae.

The article presents the premineralized fossils from the terminal proterozoic Doushanuo formation in South China. Such findings are noted to provide clues on biological diversity just before the Ediacaran radiation. The indication of large animals radiated into a world rich in prokaryotic, protistan and multicellular diversity is revealed by discovered compressed macrofossils.