Eukaryotic organisms in Proterozoic oceans
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The geological record of protists begins well before the Ediacaran and Cambrian diversification of animals, but the antiquity of that history, its reliability as a chronicle of evolution and the causal inferences that can be drawn from it remain subjects of debate. Well-preserved protists are known from a relatively small number of Proterozoic formations, but taphonomic considerations suggest that they capture at least broad aspects of early eukaryotic evolution. A modest diversity of problematic, possibly stem group protists occurs in ca 1800-1300 Myr old rocks. 1300-720 Myr fossils document the divergence of major eukaryotic clades, but only with the Ediacaran-Cambrian radiation of animals did diversity increase within most clades with fossilizable members. While taxonomic placement of many Proterozoic eukaryotes may be arguable, the presence of characters used for that placement is not. Focus on character evolution permits inferences about the innovations in cell biology and development that underpin the taxonomic and morphological diversification of eukaryotic organisms.
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The oldest known potential eukaryotic microfossils are 1.87 Ga impressions of filaments similar to coiled green algae.
“The oldest known potential eukaryotic microfossils are the 1.87 Ga impressions of filaments similar to coiled green algae (Knoll et al., 2006).”
From The Astrobiology Primer v2.0 (2016) · cites this paper as Knoll et al., 2006
The palaeontological estimates section (p. 3) describes coiled Grypania fossils as likely eukaryotic and reports Canadian specimens from about 1850 Myr ago. It calls them macroscopic fossils, not microfossils, does not date them to 1.87 Ga, and says their phylogenetic relationships are poorly constrained rather than comparing them to green algae. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredMarine life diversified extensively during the Neoproterozoic, and a wide range of biological groups existed by the start of the Ediacaran Period, including multiple microscopic prokaryotes and eukaryotes, acritarchs, simple macroscopic discoidal specimens, and putative metazoans.
“Marine life diversified extensively during the Neoproterozoic, and a wide range of biological groups existed by the start of the Ediacaran Period.These included multiple microscopic prokaryotes and eukaryotes (Schopf and Barghorn, 1969;Porter and Knoll, 2000;Knoll et al., 2006;Butterfield, 2009a;Bosak et al., 2011bBosak et al., , 2012;;Cohen et al., 2011), acritarchs (e.g.Grey et al., 2011), a”
From Remarkable insights into the paleoecology of the Avalonian Ediacaran macrobiota (2015) · cites this paper as Knoll et al., 2006
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- Authors
- Knoll, A. H., Javaux, E. J., Hewitt, D., & Cohen, P.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- University of Liège (BE)
- Venue
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2006-05-05
- Volume
- 361
- Issue
- 1470
- Pages
- 1023-1038
- ISSN
- 0962-8436 (ISSN-L)
- 1471-2970
- PMC
- PMC1578724
- OpenAlex
- W2133159913
- Cited by
- 701
- References
- 110
- Citations by year
- 2026: 21 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 52 · 2022: 35 · 2021: 51 · 2020: 31 · 2019: 27 · 2018: 27 · 2017: 41 · 2016: 49 · 2015: 49 · 2014: 43 · 2013: 44 · 2012: 26
- FWCI
- 11.15
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Platform voor marien onderzoek (Vlaams Instituut Voor De Zee) (submittedVersion)
- Open Repository and Bibliography (University of Liège) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Protist diversity and phylogeny
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Evolution and Paleontology Studies
- Keywords
- eukaryotic evolution, Ediacaran, taphonomy, fossil record, character evolution
- MeSH terms
- Eukaryotic Cells, Biological Evolution, Fossils, Oceans and Seas, Paleontology, Phylogeny, Geologic Sediments
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