The Cambrian is the earliest period in whose rocks are found numerous large, distinctly-fossilizable multicellular organisms that are more complex than sponges or medusoids. During this time, roughly fifty separate major groups of organisms or "phyla" (a phylum defines the basic body plan of some group of modern or extinct animals) emerged suddenly, in most cases without evident precursors (Gould, 1989). This radiation of animal phyla is referred to as the Cambrian explosion. Rocks of the Late Cambrian epoch are referred to as Upper Cambrian strata. During the Furongian, trilobites proliferated; they serve as useful index fossils. Aside from a few enigmatic forms that may or may not represent animals, all modern animal phyla with any fossil record to speak of except bryozoa appear to have representatives in the Cambrian, and of these most except sponges seem to have originated just after or just before the start of the period. However, several modern phyla, primarily those with small and/or soft bodies, have no fossil record, in the Cambrian or otherwise. Many extinct phyla and odd animals that have unclear relationships to other animals also appear in the Cambrian.