About 2.5 billion years ago, Cyanobacteria “hacked” the sun to split water, releasing oxygen as a byproduct and triggering the first global environmental catastrophe and subsequent biological reset.
Bacteria cyanobacteria & oxygenic photosynthesis Read More »
About 3 billion years ago, bacteria started experimenting with photosynthesis.
Bacteria Photosynthesis begins Read More »
Shortly after LUCA, about 3.7 billion years ago, the first bacteria emerged.
First True Bacteria Read More »
At 252 million years ago, the greatest extinction ends the world as known, fungi begin again.
Fungal Survivors of Extinction Read More »
About 450 million years ago, fungi and plants have a rich dirt root alliance. Plants gave sugars, fungi gave phosphorus and minerals.
Fungal Underground Alliance Read More »
About 420 million years ago, fungi stood taller than trees.
Fungal Giants of the Devonian Read More »
LECA is the Last Eukaryotic Common Ancestor. LECA reproduced sexually pushing the mixing of DNA back before 1.75 billion years ago.
LECA: Likely Sexual Reproduction Read More »
About 600 million years ago, chytrids live in moist and watery environments. They are living fossils in the sense they reproduce with sperm-like cells that can swim to a new area.
First True Fungi: Chytrids (and living fossils) Read More »
About 750 million years ago, our animal ancestors were part of a group called the Holozoa. They evolved specialized velcro-like cell glue called Cadherins.
Animal Ancestors Split Off: Cadherin Cell Glue (Holozoa) Read More »
About 1.15 billion years ago, our animial-fungi ancestor evolve a true posterior flagellum. Single-celled animal sperm has a lineage back to this ancestor.
Opisthokonts: True Posterior Flagellum Read More »
About 950 million years ago, fungi ancestors evolve into multiple early-diverging lineages with flagellated spores: chytrid-like forms.
Fungi Ancestors Split Off: (aquatic Holomycota) Read More »
About 1.3 billion years ago, our animal-fungi ancestor stopped using two pulling flagella and narrowed it down to a single motor.
Unikonts: Single-Motor flagella Reform Read More »
About 1.55 billion years ago, bikonts evolved two flagella to pull themselves forward. These tiny rowboats led to all plants and is not an animal-fungi ancestor.
Bikonts: Plant Ancestors Split Off Again (Front-Pull Pioneers) Read More »
Conifers branched about 300 million years ago with their seed-bearing cones (woody or modified), enabling them to thrive on dry land.
Conifers branch off Read More »
The modern coast redwood species is about 25 million years old, but its lineage reaches back roughly 100 million years into the age of dinosaurs.
Redwood Lineage Emerges Read More »
The Senegal bichir represents an early branch of ray-finned fish, preserving traits that trace back nearly 380 million years.
The Senegal Bichir: A Living Fossil Read More »
A lineage can survive for hundreds of millions of years while remaining morphologically recognizable. Living fossil is poetic, but scientifically the ginkgo represents a relict lineage and a morphologically conservative lineage.
Ginkgo biloba — A Living Fossil in My Backyard Read More »
The shark body plan stabilized early. By 300 million years ago, the streamlined, hydrodynamic silhouette that defines sharks today was already established.
Stem Selachians: Modern Sharks LCA Read More »
By 307 million years ago, land herbivory had already begun in early reptiles known as microsaurs.
First Land Herbivore: Tyrannoroter heberti Read More »
Not yet a “full” mammal, the last common ancestor between us and the platypus lived around 225 million years ago.
Platypus–Ape Common Ancestor Read More »
