This is a list of fossils found at Maotianshan Shales, whose most famous assemblage of organisms are referred to as the Chengjiang biota.
The Maotianshan Shales are a series of Early Cambrian sedimentary deposits in the Chiungchussu Formation, famous for their Konservat Lagerstätten, deposits known for the exceptional preservation of fossilized organisms or traces. The Maotianshan Shales form one of some forty Cambrian fossil locations worldwide exhibiting exquisite preservation of rarely preserved, non-mineralized soft tissue, comparable to the fossils of the Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada.
Radiodonta are a group of highly successful panarthropods. The Chengjiang Fauna includes a large number of Radiodont species, primarily from the clade Amplectobeluidae. While hurdiids are poorly known from the formation and surrounding region, several specimens attributable to the family have been discovered, but remain unnamed. Some radiodonts from the Chengjiang defy easy classification, or are otherwise debated in their exact affinity.
Hurdiids have historically been considered absent, or at least rare, from the Chengjiang Biota, an observation that researchers have found confusing given their regularity at other sites. In recent years, a number of fragmentary hurdiid fossils have been described, including 3 partial appendages belonging to a new species of Stanleycaris, an isolated sclerite assigned to Cambroraster, Zhenghecaris (the affinities of which, even its identity as a radiodont, remains questionable), and isolated lateral sclerites (also questionable).
Macroalgae rank fourth in species-level diversity behind arthropods, priapulids, and sponges, and account for 71.5% of total abundance from the biota, particularly dominated by unattached (floating, planktonic, and drifting) species.