Paleobiologists from the University of Sheffield in the UK found the remains of a microscopic organism, whose age reaches one billion years. This creature can be an oldest intermediate form between unicellular and multicellular forms of life. The article of scientists was published in the journal Current Biology, briefly about the study tells the Edition of Science Alert.
The size of the Bicellum Brasieri fossils found in the formation of Diabaig in Lake Loch Torridon (Scotland) reaches 30 micrometers in diameter. In sediments at the bottom of an ancient water branch contained microphosses of one billion years of age, even their subcontaneous structure was preserved. Scientists managed to see the dense clusters (stereoblasts) of spherical cells mixed with elongated cells. It is believed that this is a young, developing organism, which in a mature form has two layers of various cells.
other multicellular organisms were identified about the same age, including mushrooms and algae, but the Bicellum morphology, according to researchers, is more consistent with Holozoa, a group that includes animals and their closest unicellular relatives.
The opening of the new fossil suggests that the evolution of multicellular animals occurred at least one billion years ago, and the processes preceding the evolution of animals could occur in lakes, and not in seawater.