1. Kingdom Procaryotae Incertae Sedis
Archaeoscillatoriopsis grandis
Archaeotrichion septatum
Primaevifilum amoenum
Early Precambrian, Australia
The most ancient direct evidence of life on earth was found in Western Australia, where outcroppings of dense, sedimentary chert contain the oldest undoubted microfossils known. Paleobotanist J. William Schopf and his colleagues discovered several species of benthic, primordial microbes including the probable cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) Archaeoscillatoriopsis grandisand Primaevifilum amoenum.Flimsily organized in mucilage, this microbial assemblage attests to the extreme antiquity of oxygen-producing, photosynthetic physiology. Interpreted as probable bacteria, Archaeotrichion septatum closely resembles modern forms, confirming that anoxic bacteria were already abundant at this early phase of biotic history.

Heralding the appearance of one-celled organisms, these sinuous relics of once living procaryotic cells are dated at 3.465 billion years, astounding evidence of an evolving, biotic continuum spanning from the Early Archean Rocks from the nearby planet Mars, bearing controversial geological anomalies of similar age and form to confirmed terrestrial fossil bacteria, have been found lying on top of the ice in Antarctica as cosmic debris. Microfossiliferous rock sample and photomicrographs of cellularly preserved specimens from the Early Archean Apex Basalt courtesy of J. William Schopf. British Museum of Natural History.

2. Collenia versiformis.
Sliced cross-section of a 2.5 billion year old stromatolite, a primordial, blue-green algae formation responsible for oxygenation of the shallow seas and the lethal ancient atmosphere. Precambrian, Minnesota. Private collection.

3. Collenia tubiformis.
One billion year old stromatolite, fossilized bacterial blue-green algae formation around which the early protozoans proliferated, protected from deadly ultraviolet sunlight by an atmospheric layer of ozone gas (a product of the accumulating oxygen). Precambrian, Montana. Private collection.

The Ediacara fauna.
The “dawn animals,” early metazoans of a recent protozoan ancestry, the oldest known community of multicellular organisms, from the 700 million year old Late Precambrian Ediacara tidal flat deposits of South Australia. University of Adelaide.

4. Rugoconites tenuirugosus.
A primordial medusoid jellyfish, a predaceous colonial organism armed with poisonous, stinging cells and composed of hundreds of specialized individual creatures living in hereditary symbiosis.

5. Kimberella quadrata.
An archetypical cubozoan jellyfish, or sea wasp, a dangerous predator of animals trapped in its poisonous tentacles.

6. Ediacaria flindersi.
An anemone-like jellyfish that may have lived attached to the sea floor with its tentacles extended upwards.

7. Dickinsonia costata.
Segmented annelid marine worms, bottom-dwellers that fed by filtering organic particles from the seabed.

8. Spriggina floundersi.
A segmented annelid marine worm and possible ancestor of the trilobites, a classic Precambrian specimen.

9. Tribrachidium heraldicum.
A primitive echinoderm, the earliest known, a filter-feeding organism ancestral to starfish and, possibly, the chordates.

10. Charniodiscus opositus.
A soft coral or sea-pen, marine creatures with a simple, chambered vascular system.

11. Charniodiscus arboreus.
An ancient sea-pen that lived attached to the shallow seabed, feeding on organic particles filtered from the warm currents.

12. Glaessnerina grandis.
A sea-penlike marine creature, closely related to surviving forms.

13. Cyclomedusa davidi.
A bottom-dwelling jellyfish-like creature sometimes found associated with the stems of Charniodiscus and possibly its holdfast.