Abstract Identification and naming of fossil and subfossil organisms are not easy tasks. We are in the midst of a paradigm shift in how NPP taxa are named, driven in large part by (1) molecular clock taxonomic efforts in the past 25 years and (2) greater connectivity among scientific communities. Concurrent with this is the understanding that sometimes a name is not necessary, and identifying acronyms, pending further taxonomic work, or where fragmentary or synapomorphic remains cannot be assigned to their original taxon, are sufficient. The overarching goal of the paradigm shift is to maintain stability of the code and avoid increasing the number of names that refer to single taxa. The history and current state of nomenclature for non-pollen palynomorphs groups, highlighting recent developments with dinoflagellates and fungi, is given, and recommendations for a unified approach to NPP nomenclature through geological time are made.

Abstract The Stoer, Sleat and Torridon groups lie unconformably on Palaeoproterozoic Lewisian metamorphic rocks. They contain organic carbon microfossils claimed to be non-marine and to include eukaryotes. We consider the evidence for terrestrial interpretations from each formation of the Torridonian Supergroup. The range of sedimentary structures and the boron content of illite led us to the overall conclusion that, based on the currently available evidence, the Torridonian Supergroup was probably entirely non-marine. Evidence for terrestrial life in these rocks comes from microbially induced sedimentary structures, including wrinkle structures with reticulate and elephant skin fabrics. Organic remains and microscopic carbonaceous compressions mostly reported from phosphates in the grey shales of the Stoer, Aultbea and Applecross formations are dominated by sphaeromorph acritarchs. The Diabaig phosphatic lagerstätte includes three-dimensional preservation of eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms, providing remarkable insights into non-marine life around 1 billion years ago. Supplementary material: Taxonomy of Torridon Group microfossils from thin sections of phosphatic material (adapted from Battison 2012) is available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3522753