Ediacara biota
The Ediacara biota are the earliest widely accepted evidence of multicellular "animals". Most Ediacaran strata with the "elephant skin" texture characteristic of microbial mats contain fossils, and Ediacaran fossils are hardly ever found in beds that do not contain these microbial mats. Adolf Seilacher categorized the "animals" as: "mat encrusters", which were permanently attached to the mat;