The Miaolingian is the third Series of the Cambrian Period, and was formally named in 2018. It lasted from about to million years ago and is divided in ascending order into 3 stages: the

Wuliuan The Wuliuan stage is the fifth stage of the Cambrian, and the first stage of the Miaolingian Series of the Cambrian. It was formally defined by the ICS in 2018. Its base is defined by the first appearance of the trilobite species '' Oryctoceph ...

Drumian The Drumian is a stage of the Miaolingian Series of the Cambrian. It succeeds the Wuliuan and precedes the Guzhangian. The base is defined as the first appearance of the trilobite '' Ptychagnostus atavus'' around million years ago. The top i ...

, and Guzhangian. The Miaolingian is preceded by the unnamed

Cambrian Series 2 Cambrian Series 2 is the unnamed 2nd series of the Cambrian. It lies above the Terreneuvian series and below the Miaolingian. Series 2 has not been formally defined by the International Commission on Stratigraphy, lacking a precise lower boundar ...

and succeeded by the

Furongian The Furongian is the fourth and final epoch and series of the Cambrian. It lasted from to million years ago. It succeeds the Miaolingian series of the Cambrian and precedes the Lower Ordovician Tremadocian Stage. It is subdivided into three ...

series.

Definition

A number of proposals for fossils and type sections were made before it was formally ratified in 2018. The most promising fossil markers were seen to be the respective first appearances of either trilobite species '' Ovatoryctocara granulata'' or '' Oryctocephalus indicus'', which both have an age close to million years ago. After some deliberation, the FAD of ''Oryctocephalus indicus'' was chosen to be the lower boundary marker, and the GSSP was placed in Wuliu-Zengjiayan,

Guizhou Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to the ...

, China. The Miaolingian-

boundary has the same definition as the

Paibian The Paibian is the lowest stage of Furongian series of the Cambrian. It follows the Guzhangian ( 3rd series of the Cambrian) and is succeeded by the Jiangshanian Stage. The base is defined as the first appearance of the trilobite '' Glyptagnostus ...

Stage. It is defined as the first appearance of ''

Glyptagnostus reticulatus ''Glyptagnostus reticulatus'' is a species of agnostid trilobite belonging to the genus '' Glyptagnostus''. It existed during the Paibian Age ( million years ago) of the Cambrian. It has a cosmopolitan distribution and is an important index fos ...

'' around million years ago.

Subdivision

The Miaolingian is subdivided into the following stages:

References

*03 Geological epochs {{cambrian-stub