Abstract Sole markings from the Upper Cambrian Booley Bay Formation at Booley Bay, Co. Wexford, Ireland, previously described as the Ediacaran-type fossil Ediacaria booleyi appear to possess a number of morphological characteristics which are not consistent with assignment to the genus Ediacaria , nor any other known Ediacaran taxon. An inorganic origin for the structures has been proposed by several workers; we tentatively consider them to be at least in part organic, and are currently working to evaluate this hypothesis critically. If organic, the organisms must have had a density similar to that of the sediment in which they were emplaced, and to survive the transport process, they must have had a rigid integument. Neither of these properties appears to be consistent with an interpretation as an Ediacaran-type organism. We suggest here that the Booley Bay specimens should be removed from the genus Ediacaria . If Ediacaria booleyi is not related to known Ediacaran organisms, this would remove a key aspect of the argument against a mass extinction at the Precambrian/Cambrian boundary.