Bicellum

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Bicellum
Temporal range: 1000 Ma
Billion-years-old Bicellum Brasieri in mature form.jpg
Multiple specimens of B. brasieri, such as the holotype (A)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Clade: Amorphea
Clade: Obazoa
Clade: Opisthokonta
Clade: Holozoa
Genus:† Bicellum
Species:
†B. brasieri
Binomial name
†Bicellum brasieri
Strother et al. 2021 [1]

Bicellum is a genus of fossil holozoans containing the single species Bicellum brasieri. [1] It is one billion years old and could be the oldest example of complex multicellularity in the evolutionary lineage leading to the animals, [2] [3] and has been described as bridging "the gap between the very first living creatures — single-celled organisms — and more complex multicellular life." [4] It was discovered in 2021, and is posthumously named after the late Martin Brasier, a paleontologist who was a co-author of the paper that first described it. [5]

Fossil site

Bicellum was found in sediments from the Diabaig Formation in Loch Torridon, Scotland. The Diabaig Formation, considered to represent an ancient lake deposit, [6] was already known to preserve the first non-marine eukaryotes. [7]

References

  1. 1 2 Strother, Paul K.; Brasier, Martin D.; Wacey, David; Timpe, Leslie; Saunders, Martin; Wellman, Charles H. (April 2021). "A possible billion-year-old holozoan with differentiated multicellularity". Current Biology. 31 (12): 2658–2665.e2. Bibcode:2021CBio...31E2658S. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.03.051 . PMID   33852871.
  2. ↑ "Finding the 'missing link'". BC News. Boston College. June 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  3. ↑ "Billion-year-old fossil found preserved in Torridon rocks". BBC News. 29 April 2021. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  4. ↑ Weisberg, Mindy (2021-05-06). "Fossil 'balls' are 1 billion years old and could be Earth's oldest known multicellular life". livescience.com. Retrieved 2024-04-17.
  5. ↑ "Billion-Year-Old Scottish Fossil Could Be The Oldest Proto-Animal Ever Found". IFLScience. 30 April 2021.
  6. ↑ Stewart, A. D. (2002). The Later Proterozoic Torridonian Rocks of Scotland: their Sedimentology, Geochemistry and Origin. London: the Geological Society. pp. 1–136. ISBN   1-86239-103-3.
  7. ↑ Strother, Paul K.; Battison, Leila; Brasier, Martin D.; Wellman, Charles H. (May 2011). "Earth's earliest non-marine eukaryotes" . Nature. 473 (7348): 505–509. Bibcode:2011Natur.473..505S. doi:10.1038/nature09943. ISSN   1476-4687. PMID   21490597. S2CID   4418860.
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