Menu
Home Explore People Places Arts History Plants & Animals Science Life & Culture Technology
On this page
Timeline of the evolutionary history of life
Current scientific theory outlining the major events during the development of life

The scientific theory of life's evolutionary timeline outlines key events in the development of life on Earth, based on scientific evidence like fossils. Evolution drives diversity across all levels of biological organization, from kingdoms to species, and down to molecules like DNA. All known species share a common ancestor, though over 99% of species that ever lived are extinct. Presently, 10–14 million species exist but many remain undescribed. The history of life features periods of rising biodiversity punctuated by sharp declines, such as during the Cambrian explosion.

We don't have any images related to Timeline of the evolutionary history of life yet.
We don't have any YouTube videos related to Timeline of the evolutionary history of life yet.
We don't have any PDF documents related to Timeline of the evolutionary history of life yet.
We don't have any Books related to Timeline of the evolutionary history of life yet.

Extinction

Main article: Extinction event

Species go extinct constantly as environments change, as organisms compete for environmental niches, and as genetic mutation leads to the rise of new species from older ones. At long irregular intervals, Earth's biosphere suffers a catastrophic die-off, a mass extinction,9 often comprising an accumulation of smaller extinction events over a relatively brief period.10

The first known mass extinction was the Great Oxidation Event 2.4 billion years ago, which killed most of the planet's obligate anaerobes. Researchers have identified five other major extinction events in Earth's history, with estimated losses below:11

Smaller extinction events have occurred in the periods between, with some dividing geologic time periods and epochs. The Holocene extinction event is currently under way.13

Factors in mass extinctions include continental drift, changes in atmospheric and marine chemistry, volcanism and other aspects of mountain formation, changes in glaciation, changes in sea level, and impact events.14

Detailed timeline

In this timeline, Ma (for megaannum) means "million years ago," ka (for kiloannum) means "thousand years ago," and ya means "years ago."

Hadean Eon

Main article: Hadean

4540 Ma – 4031 Ma

DateEvent
4540 MaPlanet Earth forms from the accretion disc revolving around the young Sun, perhaps preceded by formation of organic compounds necessary for life in the surrounding protoplanetary disk of cosmic dust.1516
4510 MaAccording to the giant-impact hypothesis, the Moon originated when Earth and the hypothesized planet Theia collided, sending into orbit myriad moonlets which eventually coalesced into our single Moon.1718 The Moon's gravitational pull stabilised Earth's fluctuating axis of rotation, setting up regular climatic conditions favoring abiogenesis.19
4404 MaEvidence of the first liquid water on Earth which were found in the oldest known zircon crystals.20
4280–3770 MaEarliest possible appearance of life on Earth.21222324

Archean Eon

Main article: Archean

4031 Ma – 2500 Ma

DateEvent
4100 MaEarliest possible preservation of biogenic carbon.2526
4100–3800 MaLate Heavy Bombardment (LHB): extended barrage by meteoroids impacting the inner planets. Thermal flux from widespread hydrothermal activity during the LHB may have aided abiogenesis and life's early diversification.27 Possible remains of biotic life were found in 4.1 billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia.2829
4000 MaFormation of a greenstone belt of the Acasta Gneiss of the Slave craton in northwest Canada - the oldest known rock belt.30
3900–2500 MaCells resembling prokaryotes appear.31 These first organisms are believed to have been chemoautotrophs, using carbon dioxide as a carbon source and oxidizing inorganic materials to extract energy.
3800 MaFormation of a greenstone belt of the Isua complex in western Greenland, whose isotope frequencies suggest the presence of life.32 The earliest evidence for life on Earth includes: 3.8 billion-year-old biogenic hematite in a banded iron formation of the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt in Canada;33 graphite in 3.7 billion-year-old metasedimentary rocks in western Greenland;34 and microbial mat fossils in 3.48 billion-year-old sandstone in Western Australia.3536
3800–3500 MaLast universal common ancestor (LUCA):3738 split between bacteria and archaea.39

Bacteria develop primitive photosynthesis, which at first did not produce oxygen.40 These organisms exploit a proton gradient to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a mechanism used by virtually all subsequent organisms.414243

3000 MaPhotosynthesizing cyanobacteria using water as a reducing agent and producing oxygen as a waste product.44 Free oxygen initially oxidizes dissolved iron in the oceans, creating iron ore. Oxygen concentration in the atmosphere slowly rises, poisoning many bacteria and eventually triggering the Great Oxygenation Event.
2800 MaOldest evidence for microbial life on land in the form of organic matter-rich paleosols, ephemeral ponds and alluvial sequences, some bearing microfossils.45

Proterozoic Eon

Main article: Proterozoic

2500 Ma – 539 Ma. Contains the Palaeoproterozoic, Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic eras.

DateEvent
2500 MaGreat Oxidation Event led by cyanobacteria's oxygenic photosynthesis.46 Commencement of plate tectonics with old marine crust dense enough to subduct.47
2400 MaPossible land fungi evidence from molecules.
2023 MaFormation of the Vredefort impact structure, one of the largest and oldest verified impact structures on Earth. The crater is estimated to have been between 170–300 kilometres (110–190 mi) across when it first formed.48
By 1850 MaEukaryotic cells, containing membrane-bound organelles with diverse functions, probably derived from prokaryotes engulfing each other via phagocytosis. (See Symbiogenesis and Endosymbiont). Bacterial viruses (bacteriophages) emerge before or soon after the divergence of the prokaryotic and eukaryotic lineages.49 Red beds show an oxidising atmosphere, favouring the spread of eukaryotic life.505152
1500 MaVolyn biota, a collection of exceptionally well-preserved microfossils with varying morphologies.53
1300 MaEarliest land fungi.54
By 1200 MaMeiosis and sexual reproduction in single-celled eukaryotes, possibly even in the common ancestor of all eukaryotes55 or in the RNA world.56 Sexual reproduction may have increased the rate of evolution.57
By 1000 MaFirst non-marine eukaryotes move onto land. They were photosynthetic and multicellular, indicating that plants evolved much earlier than originally thought.58
750 MaBeginning of animal evolution.5960
720–630 MaPossible global glaciation6162 which increased the atmospheric oxygen and decreased carbon dioxide, and was either caused by land plant evolution63 or resulted in it.64 Opinion is divided on whether it increased or decreased biodiversity or the rate of evolution.656667
600 MaAccumulation of atmospheric oxygen allows the formation of an ozone layer.68 Previous land-based life would probably have required other chemicals to attenuate ultraviolet radiation.69
580–542 MaEdiacaran biota, the first large, complex aquatic multicellular organisms.70
580–500 MaCambrian explosion: most modern animal phyla appear.7172
550–540 MaCtenophora (comb jellies),73 Porifera (sponges),74 Anthozoa (corals and sea anemones),75 Ikaria wariootia (an early Bilaterian).76

Phanerozoic Eon

Main article: Phanerozoic

539 Ma – present

The Phanerozoic Eon (Greek: period of well-displayed life) marks the appearance in the fossil record of abundant, shell-forming and/or trace-making organisms. It is subdivided into three eras, the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic, with major mass extinctions at division points.

Palaeozoic Era

Main article: Paleozoic

538.8 Ma – 251.9 Ma and contains the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian periods.

DateEvent
535 MaMajor diversification of living things in the oceans: arthropods (e.g. trilobites, crustaceans), chordates, echinoderms, molluscs, brachiopods, foraminifers and radiolarians, etc.
530 MaThe first known footprints on land date to 530 Ma.77
520 MaEarliest graptolites.78
511 MaEarliest crustaceans.79
505 MaFossilization of the Burgess Shale
500 MaJellyfish have existed since at least this time.
485 MaFirst vertebrates with true bones (jawless fishes).
450 MaFirst complete conodonts and echinoids appear.
440 MaFirst agnathan fishes: Heterostraci, Galeaspida, and Pituriaspida.
420 MaEarliest ray-finned fishes, trigonotarbid arachnids, and land scorpions.80
410 MaFirst signs of teeth in fish. Earliest Nautilida, lycophytes, and trimerophytes.
488–400 MaFirst cephalopods (nautiloids)81 and chitons.82
395 MaFirst lichens, stoneworts. Earliest harvestmen, mites, hexapods (springtails) and ammonoids. The earliest known tracks on land named the Zachelmie trackways which are possibly related to icthyostegalians.83
375 MaTiktaalik, a lobe-finned fish with some anatomical features similar to early tetrapods. It has been suggested to be a transitional species between fish and tetrapods.84
365 MaAcanthostega is one of the earliest vertebrates capable of walking.85
363 MaBy the start of the Carboniferous Period, the Earth begins to resemble its present state. Insects roamed the land and would soon take to the skies; sharks swam the oceans as top predators,86 and vegetation covered the land, with seed-bearing plants and forests soon to flourish.

Four-limbed tetrapods gradually gain adaptations which will help them occupy a terrestrial life-habit.

360 MaFirst crabs and ferns. Land flora dominated by seed ferns. The Xinhang forest grows around this time.87
350 MaFirst large sharks, ratfishes, and hagfish; first crown tetrapods (with five digits and no fins and scales).
350 MaDiversification of amphibians.88
325-335 MaFirst Reptiliomorpha.89
330-320 MaFirst amniote vertebrates (Paleothyris).90
320 MaSynapsids (precursors to mammals) separate from sauropsids (reptiles) in late Carboniferous.91
305 MaThe Carboniferous rainforest collapse occurs, causing a minor extinction event, as well as paving the way for amniotes to become dominant over amphibians and seed plants over ferns and lycophytes.

First diapsid reptiles (e.g. Petrolacosaurus).

280 MaEarliest beetles, seed plants and conifers diversify while lepidodendrids and sphenopsids decrease. Terrestrial temnospondyl amphibians and pelycosaurs (e.g. Dimetrodon) diversify in species.
275 MaTherapsid synapsids separate from pelycosaur synapsids.
265 MaGorgonopsians appear in the fossil record.92
251.9–251.4 MaThe Permian–Triassic extinction event eliminates over 90-95% of marine species. Terrestrial organisms were not as seriously affected as the marine biota. This "clearing of the slate" may have led to an ensuing diversification, but life on land took 30 million years to completely recover.93

Mesozoic Era

Main article: Mesozoic

From 251.9 Ma to 66 Ma and containing the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

DateEvent
250 MaMesozoic marine revolution begins: increasingly well adapted and diverse predators stress sessile marine groups; the "balance of power" in the oceans shifts dramatically as some groups of prey adapt more rapidly and effectively than others.
250 MaTriadobatrachus massinoti is the earliest known frog.
248 MaSturgeon and paddlefish (Acipenseridae) first appear.
245 MaEarliest ichthyosaurs
240 MaIncrease in diversity of cynodonts and rhynchosaurs
225 MaEarliest dinosaurs (prosauropods), first cardiid bivalves, diversity in cycads, bennettitaleans, and conifers. First teleost fishes. First mammals (Adelobasileus).
220 MaSeed-producing Gymnosperm forests dominate the land; herbivores grow to huge sizes to accommodate the large guts necessary to digest the nutrient-poor plants. First flies and turtles (Odontochelys). First coelophysoid dinosaurs. First mammals from small-sized cynodonts, which transitioned towards a nocturnal, insectivorous, and endothermic lifestyle.
205 MaMassive Triassic/Jurassic extinction. It wipes out all pseudosuchians except crocodylomorphs, who transitioned to an aquatic habitat, while dinosaurs took over the land and pterosaurs filled the air.
200 MaFirst accepted evidence for viruses infecting eukaryotic cells (the group Geminiviridae).94 However, viruses are still poorly understood and may have arisen before "life" itself, or may be a more recent phenomenon.

Major extinctions in terrestrial vertebrates and large amphibians. Earliest examples of armoured dinosaurs.

195 MaFirst pterosaurs with specialized feeding (Dorygnathus). First sauropod dinosaurs. Diversification in small, ornithischian dinosaurs: heterodontosaurids, fabrosaurids, and scelidosaurids.
190 MaPliosauroids appear in the fossil record. First lepidopteran insects (Archaeolepis), hermit crabs, modern starfish, irregular echinoids, corbulid bivalves, and tubulipore bryozoans. Extensive development of sponge reefs.
176 MaFirst Stegosaurian dinosaurs.
170 MaEarliest salamanders, newts, cryptoclidids, elasmosaurid plesiosaurs, and cladotherian mammals. Sauropod dinosaurs diversify.
168 MaFirst lizards.
165 MaFirst rays and glycymeridid bivalves. First vampire squids.95
163 MaPterodactyloid pterosaurs first appear.96
161 MaCeratopsian dinosaurs appear in the fossil record (Yinlong) and the oldest known eutherian mammal: Juramaia.
160 MaMultituberculate mammals (genus Rugosodon) appear in eastern China.
155 MaFirst blood-sucking insects (ceratopogonids), rudist bivalves, and cheilostome bryozoans. Archaeopteryx, a possible ancestor to the birds, appears in the fossil record, along with triconodontid and symmetrodont mammals. Diversity in stegosaurian and theropod dinosaurs.
131 MaFirst pine trees.
140 MaOrb-weaver spiders appear.
135 MaRise of the angiosperms. Some of these flowering plants bear structures that attract insects and other animals to spread pollen; other angiosperms are pollinated by wind or water. This innovation causes a major burst of animal coevolution. First freshwater pelomedusid turtles. Earliest krill.
120 MaOldest fossils of heterokonts, including both marine diatoms and silicoflagellates.
115 MaFirst monotreme mammals.
114 MaEarliest bees.97
112 MaXiphactinus, a large predatory fish, appears in the fossil record.
110 MaFirst hesperornithes, toothed diving birds. Earliest limopsid, verticordiid, and thyasirid bivalves.
100 MaFirst ants.98
100–95 MaSpinosaurus appears in the fossil record.99
95 MaFirst crocodilians evolve.100
90 MaExtinction of ichthyosaurs. Earliest snakes and nuculanid bivalves. Large diversification in angiosperms: magnoliids, rosids, hamamelidids, monocots, and ginger. Earliest examples of ticks. Probable origins of placental mammals (earliest undisputed fossil evidence is 66 Ma).
86–76 MaDiversification of therian mammals.101102
70 MaMultituberculate mammals increase in diversity. First yoldiid bivalves. First possible ungulates (Protungulatum).
68–66 MaTyrannosaurus, the largest terrestrial predator of western North America, appears in the fossil record. First species of Triceratops.103

Cenozoic Era

Main article: Cenozoic

Cenozoic era (66 Ma – present)
DateEvent
66 MaThe Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event eradicates about half of all animal species, including mosasaurs, pterosaurs, plesiosaurs, ammonites, belemnites, rudist and inoceramid bivalves, most planktic foraminifers, and all of the dinosaurs excluding the birds.104
66 MaRapid dominance of conifers and ginkgos in high latitudes, along with mammals becoming the dominant species. First psammobiid bivalves. Earliest rodents. Rapid diversification in ants.
63 MaEvolution of the creodonts, an important group of meat-eating (carnivorous) mammals.
62 MaEvolution of the first penguins.
60 MaDiversification of large, flightless birds. Earliest true primates,[who?] along with the first semelid bivalves, edentate, carnivoran and lipotyphlan mammals, and owls. The ancestors of the carnivorous mammals (miacids) were alive.
59 MaEarliest sailfish appear.
56 MaGastornis, a large flightless bird, appears in the fossil record.
55 MaModern bird groups diversify (first song birds, parrots, loons, swifts, woodpeckers), first whale (Himalayacetus), earliest lagomorphs, armadillos, appearance of sirenian, proboscidean mammals in the fossil record. Flowering plants continue to diversify. The ancestor (according to theory) of the species in the genus Carcharodon, the early mako shark Isurus hastalis, is alive. Ungulates split into artiodactyla and perissodactyla, with some members of the former returning to the sea.
52 MaFirst bats appear (Onychonycteris).
50 MaPeak diversity of dinoflagellates and nannofossils, increase in diversity of anomalodesmatan and heteroconch bivalves, brontotheres, tapirs, rhinoceroses, and camels appear in the fossil record, diversification of primates.
40 MaModern-type butterflies and moths appear. Extinction of Gastornis. Basilosaurus, one of the first of the giant whales, appeared in the fossil record.
38 MaEarliest bears.
37 MaFirst nimravid ("false saber-toothed cats") carnivores — these species are unrelated to modern-type felines. First alligators and ruminants.
35 MaGrasses diversify from among the monocot angiosperms; grasslands begin to expand. Slight increase in diversity of cold-tolerant ostracods and foraminifers, along with major extinctions of gastropods, reptiles, amphibians, and multituberculate mammals. Many modern mammal groups begin to appear: first glyptodonts, ground sloths, canids, peccaries, and the first eagles and hawks. Diversity in toothed and baleen whales.
33 MaEvolution of the thylacinid marsupials (Badjcinus).
30 MaFirst balanids and eucalypts, extinction of embrithopod and brontothere mammals, earliest pigs and cats.
28 MaParaceratherium appears in the fossil record, the largest terrestrial mammal that ever lived. First pelicans.
25 MaPelagornis sandersi appears in the fossil record, the largest flying bird that ever lived.
25 MaFirst deer.
24 MaFirst pinnipeds.
23 MaEarliest ostriches, trees representative of most major groups of oaks have appeared by now.105
20 MaFirst giraffes, hyenas, and giant anteaters, increase in bird diversity.
17 MaFirst birds of the genus Corvus (crows).
15 MaGenus Mammut appears in the fossil record, first bovids and kangaroos, diversity in Australian megafauna.
10 MaGrasslands and savannas are established, diversity in insects, especially ants and termites, horses increase in body size and develop high-crowned teeth, major diversification in grassland mammals and snakes.
9.5 Ma[dubious – discuss]Great American Interchange, where various land and freshwater faunas migrated between North and South America. Armadillos, opossums, hummingbirds Phorusrhacids, Ground Sloths, Glyptodonts, and Meridiungulates traveled to North America, while horses, tapirs, saber-toothed cats, jaguars, bears, coaties, ferrets, otters, skunks and deer entered South America.
9 MaFirst platypuses.
6.5 MaFirst hominins (Sahelanthropus).
6 MaAustralopithecines diversify (Orrorin, Ardipithecus).
5 MaFirst tree sloths and hippopotami, diversification of grazing herbivores like zebras and elephants, large carnivorous mammals like lions and the genus Canis, burrowing rodents, kangaroos, birds, and small carnivores, vultures increase in size, decrease in the number of perissodactyl mammals. Extinction of nimravid carnivores. First leopard seals.
4.8 MaMammoths appear in the fossil record.
4.5 MaMarine iguanas diverge from land iguanas.
4 MaAustralopithecus evolves. Stupendemys appears in the fossil record as the largest freshwater turtle, first modern elephants, giraffes, zebras, lions, rhinoceros and gazelles appear in the fossil record
3.6 MaBlue whales grow to modern size.
3 MaEarliest swordfish.
2.7 MaParanthropus evolves.
2.5 MaEarliest species of Arctodus and Smilodon evolve.
2 MaFirst members of genus Homo, Homo Habilis, appear in the fossil record. Diversification of conifers in high latitudes. The eventual ancestor of cattle, aurochs (Bos primigenus), evolves in India.
1.7 MaAustralopithecines go extinct.
1.2 MaEvolution of Homo antecessor. The last members of Paranthropus die out.
1.0 MaFirst coyotes.
810 kaFirst wolves
600 kaEvolution of Homo heidelbergensis.
400 kaFirst polar bears.
350 kaEvolution of Neanderthals.
300 kaGigantopithecus, a giant relative of the orangutan from Asia dies out.
250 kaAnatomically modern humans appear in Africa.106107108 Around 50 ka they start colonising the other continents, replacing Neanderthals in Europe and other hominins in Asia.
70 kaGenetic bottleneck in humans (Toba catastrophe theory).
40 kaLast giant monitor lizards (Varanus priscus) die out.
35–25 kaExtinction of Neanderthals. Domestication of dogs.
15 kaLast woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) are believed to have gone extinct.
11 kaShort-faced bears vanish from North America, with the last giant ground sloths dying out. All Equidae become extinct in North America. Domestication of various ungulates.
10 kaHolocene epoch starts109 after the Last Glacial Maximum. Last mainland species of woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenus) die out, as does the last Smilodon species.
8 kaThe giant lemur dies out.

See also

* Chronology of the universe

Bibliography

Further reading

References

  1. McKinney 1997, p. 110 - McKinney, Michael L. (1997). "How do rare species avoid extinction? A paleontological view". In Kunin, William E.; Gaston, Kevin J. (eds.). The Biology of Rarity: Causes and consequences of rare—common differences (1st ed.). London; New York: Chapman & Hall. ISBN 978-0-412-63380-5. LCCN 96071014. OCLC 36442106. https://lccn.loc.gov/96071014 ↩

  2. Stearns, Beverly Peterson; Stearns, S. C.; Stearns, Stephen C. (2000). Watching, from the Edge of Extinction. Yale University Press. p. preface x. ISBN 978-0-300-08469-6. Retrieved 30 May 2017. 978-0-300-08469-6 ↩

  3. Novacek, Michael J. (November 8, 2014). "Prehistory's Brilliant Future". The New York Times. New York. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2022-01-01. Retrieved 2014-12-25. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/opinion/sunday/prehistorys-brilliant-future.html ↩

  4. Miller & Spoolman 2012, p. 62 - Miller, G. Tyler; Spoolman, Scott E. (2012). Environmental Science (14th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole. ISBN 978-1-111-98893-7. LCCN 2011934330. OCLC 741539226. https://lccn.loc.gov/2011934330 ↩

  5. Mora, Camilo; Tittensor, Derek P.; Adl, Sina; et al. (August 23, 2011). "How Many Species Are There on Earth and in the Ocean?". PLOS Biology. 9 (8): e1001127. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001127. ISSN 1545-7885. PMC 3160336. PMID 21886479. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3160336 ↩

  6. Staff (2 May 2016). "Researchers find that Earth may be home to 1 trillion species". National Science Foundation. Retrieved 11 April 2018. https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=138446 ↩

  7. Hickman, Crystal; Starn, Autumn. "The Burgess Shale & Models of Evolution". Reconstructions of the Burgess Shale and What They Mean... Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University. Archived from the original on 2021-02-25. Retrieved 2015-10-18. https://web.archive.org/web/20210225141450/http://www.as.wvu.edu/~kgarbutt/EvolutionPage/Studentsites/Burgesspages/models_of_evolution.html ↩

  8. Barton et al. 2007, Figure 10.20 Four diagrams of evolutionary models - Barton, Nicholas H.; Briggs, Derek E.G.; Eisen, Jonathan A.; Goldstein, David B.; Patel, Nipam H. (2007). Evolution. Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. ISBN 978-0-87969-684-9. LCCN 2007010767. OCLC 86090399. https://lccn.loc.gov/2007010767 ↩

  9. "Measuring the sixth mass extinction - Cosmos". cosmosmagazine.com. Archived from the original on 2019-05-10. Retrieved 2016-08-09. https://web.archive.org/web/20190510191926/https://cosmosmagazine.com/palaeontology/measuring-sixth-mass-extinction ↩

  10. "History of life on Earth". Archived from the original on 2016-08-16. Retrieved 2016-08-09. https://web.archive.org/web/20160816103516/http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/history_of_the_earth ↩

  11. "The big five mass extinctions - Cosmos". cosmosmagazine.com. 5 July 2015. https://cosmosmagazine.com/palaeontology/big-five-extinctions ↩

  12. Mitchell, C. E.; Melchin, M. J.; Cameron, C. B.; Maletz, J. (2013). "Phylogenetic analysis reveals that Rhabdopleura is an extant graptolite". Lethaia. 46 (1): 34–56. Bibcode:2013Letha..46...34M. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.2012.00319.x. /wiki/Bibcode_(identifier) ↩

  13. Myers, Norman; Knoll, Andrew H. (May 8, 2001). "The biotic crisis and the future of evolution". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 98 (1): 5389–5392. Bibcode:2001PNAS...98.5389M. doi:10.1073/pnas.091092498. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 33223. PMID 11344283. /wiki/Norman_Myers ↩

  14. "History of life on Earth". Archived from the original on 2016-08-16. Retrieved 2016-08-09. https://web.archive.org/web/20160816103516/http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/history_of_the_earth ↩

  15. Moskowitz, Clara (March 29, 2012). "Life's Building Blocks May Have Formed in Dust Around Young Sun". Space.com. Salt Lake City, UT: Purch. Retrieved 2012-03-30. http://www.space.com/15089-life-building-blocks-young-sun-dust.html ↩

  16. Dalrymple, G. Brent (2001). "The age of the Earth in the twentieth century: a problem (mostly) solved". Geological Society, London, Special Publications. 190 (1): 205–221. Bibcode:2001GSLSP.190..205D. doi:10.1144/gsl.sp.2001.190.01.14. S2CID 130092094. Retrieved 2022-10-03. https://www.lyellcollection.org/doi/10.1144/GSL.SP.2001.190.01.14 ↩

  17. Herres, Gregg; Hartmann, William K (2010-09-07). "The Origin of the Moon". Planetary Science Institute. Tucson, AZ. Retrieved 2015-03-04. /wiki/William_Kenneth_Hartmann ↩

  18. Barboni, Melanie; Boehnke, Patrick; Keller, Brenhin; Kohl, Issaku E.; Schoene, Blair; Young, Edward D.; McKeegan, Kevin D. (2017-01-11). "Early formation of the Moon 4.51 billion years ago". Science Advances. 3 (1): e1602365. Bibcode:2017SciA....3E2365B. doi:10.1126/sciadv.1602365. ISSN 2375-2548. PMC 5226643. PMID 28097222. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5226643 ↩

  19. Astrobio (September 24, 2001). "Making the Moon". Astrobiology Magazine (Based on a Southwest Research Institute press release). ISSN 2152-1239. Archived from the original on 2015-09-08. Retrieved 2015-03-04. Because the Moon helps stabilize the tilt of the Earth's rotation, it prevents the Earth from wobbling between climatic extremes. Without the Moon, seasonal shifts would likely outpace even the most adaptable forms of life. https://web.archive.org/web/20150908051859/http://www.astrobio.net/topic/solar-system/meteoritescomets-and-asteroids/making-the-moon/ ↩

  20. Wilde, Simon A.; Valley, John W.; Peck, William H.; Graham, Colin M. (January 11, 2001). "Evidence from detrital zircons for the existence of continental crust and oceans on the Earth 4.4 Gyr ago" (PDF). Nature. 409 (6817): 175–178. Bibcode:2001Natur.409..175W. doi:10.1038/35051550. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 11196637. S2CID 4319774. https://websites.pmc.ucsc.edu/~pkoch/EART_206/09-0113/Wilde%20et%2001%20Nature%20409-175.pdf ↩

  21. Dodd, Matthew S.; Papineau, Dominic; Grenne, Tor; Slack, John F.; Rittner, Martin; Pirajno, Franco; O'Neil, Jonathan; Little, Crispin T. S. (2 March 2017). "Evidence for early life in Earth's oldest hydrothermal vent precipitates" (PDF). Nature. 543 (7643): 60–64. Bibcode:2017Natur.543...60D. doi:10.1038/nature21377. PMID 28252057. S2CID 2420384. http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/112179/1/ppnature21377_Dodd_for%20Symplectic.pdf ↩

  22. Zimmer, Carl (1 March 2017). "Scientists Say Canadian Bacteria Fossils May Be Earth's Oldest". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2022-01-01. Retrieved 2 March 2017. /wiki/Carl_Zimmer ↩

  23. Ghosh, Pallab (1 March 2017). "Earliest evidence of life on Earth 'found'". BBC News. Retrieved 2 March 2017. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-39117523 ↩

  24. Dunham, Will (1 March 2017). "Canadian bacteria-like fossils called oldest evidence of life". Reuters. Archived from the original on March 2, 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170302114728/http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAKBN16858B?sp=true ↩

  25. "4.1-billion-year-old crystal may hold earliest signs of life". 2015-10-19. Retrieved 2023-08-08. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/41-billion-year-old-crystal-may-hold-earliest-signs-life ↩

  26. Bell, Elizabeth A.; Boehnke, Patrick; Harrison, T. Mark; Mao, Wendy L. (2015-11-24). "Potentially biogenic carbon preserved in a 4.1 billion-year-old zircon". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 112 (47): 14518–14521. Bibcode:2015PNAS..11214518B. doi:10.1073/pnas.1517557112. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 4664351. PMID 26483481. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4664351 ↩

  27. Abramov, Oleg; Mojzsis, Stephen J. (May 21, 2009). "Microbial habitability of the Hadean Earth during the late heavy bombardment" (PDF). Nature. 459 (7245): 419–422. Bibcode:2009Natur.459..419A. doi:10.1038/nature08015. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 19458721. S2CID 3304147. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-11-12. Retrieved 2015-03-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20151112140112/http://isotope.colorado.edu/2009_Abramov_Mojzsis_Nature.pdf ↩

  28. Borenstein, Seth (October 19, 2015). "Hints of life on what was thought to be desolate early Earth". Excite. Yonkers, NY: Mindspark Interactive Network. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2015-10-23. Retrieved 2015-10-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20151023200248/http://apnews.excite.com/article/20151019/us-sci--earliest_life-a400435d0d.html ↩

  29. Bell, Elizabeth A.; Boehnike, Patrick; Harrison, T. Mark; et al. (November 24, 2015). "Potentially biogenic carbon preserved in a 4.1 billion-year-old zircon" (PDF). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 112 (47): 14518–14521. Bibcode:2015PNAS..11214518B. doi:10.1073/pnas.1517557112. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 4664351. PMID 26483481. Retrieved 2015-12-30. http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/10/14/1517557112.full.pdf ↩

  30. Bjornerud 2005 - Bjornerud, Marcia (2005). Reading the Rocks: The Autobiography of the Earth. Cambridge, MA: Westview Press. ISBN 978-0-8133-42498. LCCN 2004022738. OCLC 56672295. https://archive.org/details/readingrocksauto00bjor ↩

  31. Woese, Carl; Gogarten, J. Peter (October 21, 1999). "When did eukaryotic cells (cells with nuclei and other internal organelles) first evolve? What do we know about how they evolved from earlier life-forms?". Scientific American. ISSN 0036-8733. Retrieved 2015-03-04. /wiki/Carl_Woese ↩

  32. Bjornerud 2005 - Bjornerud, Marcia (2005). Reading the Rocks: The Autobiography of the Earth. Cambridge, MA: Westview Press. ISBN 978-0-8133-42498. LCCN 2004022738. OCLC 56672295. https://archive.org/details/readingrocksauto00bjor ↩

  33. Nicole Mortilanno. "Oldest traces of life on Earth found in Quebec, dating back roughly 3.8 billion years". CBC News. http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/oldest-record-life-earth-found-quebec-1.4004545 ↩

  34. Ohtomo, Yoko; Kakegawa, Takeshi; Ishida, Akizumi; et al. (January 2014). "Evidence for biogenic graphite in early Archaean Isua metasedimentary rocks". Nature Geoscience. 7 (1): 25–28. Bibcode:2014NatGe...7...25O. doi:10.1038/ngeo2025. ISSN 1752-0894. /wiki/Nature_Geoscience ↩

  35. Borenstein, Seth (November 13, 2013). "Oldest fossil found: Meet your microbial mom". Excite. Yonkers, NY: Mindspark Interactive Network. Associated Press. Retrieved 2013-11-15. http://apnews.excite.com/article/20131113/DAA1VSC01.html ↩

  36. Noffke, Nora; Christian, Daniel; Wacey, David; Hazen, Robert M. (November 8, 2013). "Microbially Induced Sedimentary Structures Recording an Ancient Ecosystem in the ca. 3.48 Billion-Year-Old Dresser Formation, Pilbara, Western Australia". Astrobiology. 13 (12): 1103–1124. Bibcode:2013AsBio..13.1103N. doi:10.1089/ast.2013.1030. ISSN 1531-1074. PMC 3870916. PMID 24205812. /wiki/Nora_Noffke ↩

  37. Doolittle, W. Ford (February 2000). "Uprooting the Tree of Life" (PDF). Scientific American. 282 (2): 90–95. Bibcode:2000SciAm.282b..90D. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0200-90. ISSN 0036-8733. PMID 10710791. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-09-07. Retrieved 2015-04-05. /wiki/Ford_Doolittle ↩

  38. Glansdorff, Nicolas; Ying Xu; Labedan, Bernard (July 9, 2008). "The Last Universal Common Ancestor: emergence, constitution and genetic legacy of an elusive forerunner". Biology Direct. 3: 29. doi:10.1186/1745-6150-3-29. ISSN 1745-6150. PMC 2478661. PMID 18613974. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2478661 ↩

  39. Hahn, Jürgen; Haug, Pat (May 1986). "Traces of Archaebacteria in ancient sediments". Systematic and Applied Microbiology. 7 (2–3): 178–183. Bibcode:1986SyApM...7..178H. doi:10.1016/S0723-2020(86)80002-9. ISSN 0723-2020. /wiki/Bibcode_(identifier) ↩

  40. Olson, John M. (May 2006). "Photosynthesis in the Archean era". Photosynthesis Research. 88 (2): 109–117. Bibcode:2006PhoRe..88..109O. doi:10.1007/s11120-006-9040-5. ISSN 0166-8595. PMID 16453059. S2CID 20364747. /wiki/Bibcode_(identifier) ↩

  41. "Proton Gradient, Cell Origin, ATP Synthase - Learn Science at Scitable". www.nature.com. http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/why-are-cells-powered-by-proton-gradients-14373960 ↩

  42. Romano, Antonio H.; Conway, Tyrrell (July–September 1996). "Evolution of carbohydrate metabolic pathways". Research in Microbiology. 147 (6–7): 448–455. doi:10.1016/0923-2508(96)83998-2. ISSN 0923-2508. PMID 9084754. /wiki/Doi_(identifier) ↩

  43. Knowles, Jeremy R. (July 1980). "Enzyme-Catalyzed Phosphoryl Transfer Reactions". Annual Review of Biochemistry. 49: 877–919. doi:10.1146/annurev.bi.49.070180.004305. ISSN 0066-4154. PMID 6250450. /wiki/Jeremy_R._Knowles ↩

  44. Buick, Roger (August 27, 2008). "When did oxygenic photosynthesis evolve?". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 363 (1504): 2731–2743. Bibcode:2008RSPTB.363.2731B. doi:10.1098/rstb.2008.0041. ISSN 0962-8436. PMC 2606769. PMID 18468984. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2606769 ↩

  45. Beraldi-Campesi, Hugo (February 23, 2013). "Early life on land and the first terrestrial ecosystems" (PDF). Ecological Processes. 2 (1): 4. Bibcode:2013EcoPr...2....1B. doi:10.1186/2192-1709-2-1. ISSN 2192-1709. S2CID 44199693. http://www.ecologicalprocesses.com/content/pdf/2192-1709-2-1.pdf ↩

  46. Buick, Roger (August 27, 2008). "When did oxygenic photosynthesis evolve?". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 363 (1504): 2731–2743. Bibcode:2008RSPTB.363.2731B. doi:10.1098/rstb.2008.0041. ISSN 0962-8436. PMC 2606769. PMID 18468984. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2606769 ↩

  47. Bjornerud 2005 - Bjornerud, Marcia (2005). Reading the Rocks: The Autobiography of the Earth. Cambridge, MA: Westview Press. ISBN 978-0-8133-42498. LCCN 2004022738. OCLC 56672295. https://archive.org/details/readingrocksauto00bjor ↩

  48. Huber, M. S.; Kovaleva, E.; Rae, A. S. P; Tisato, N.; Gulick, S. P. S (August 2023). "Can Archean Impact Structures Be Discovered? A Case Study From Earth's Largest, Most Deeply Eroded Impact Structure". Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. 128 (8). Bibcode:2023JGRE..12807721H. doi:10.1029/2022JE007721. ISSN 2169-9097. https://doi.org/10.1029%2F2022JE007721 ↩

  49. Bernstein, Harris; Bernstein, Carol (May 1989). "Bacteriophage T4 genetic homologies with bacteria and eucaryotes". Journal of Bacteriology. 171 (5): 2265–2270. doi:10.1128/jb.171.5.2265-2270.1989. ISSN 0021-9193. PMC 209897. PMID 2651395. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC209897 ↩

  50. Bjornerud 2005, p. 151 - Bjornerud, Marcia (2005). Reading the Rocks: The Autobiography of the Earth. Cambridge, MA: Westview Press. ISBN 978-0-8133-42498. LCCN 2004022738. OCLC 56672295. https://archive.org/details/readingrocksauto00bjor ↩

  51. Knoll, Andrew H.; Javaux, Emmanuelle J.; Hewitt, David; et al. (June 29, 2006). "Eukaryotic organisms in Proterozoic oceans". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 361 (1470): 1023–1038. doi:10.1098/rstb.2006.1843. ISSN 0962-8436. PMC 1578724. PMID 16754612. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1578724 ↩

  52. Fedonkin, Mikhail A. (March 31, 2003). "The origin of the Metazoa in the light of the Proterozoic fossil record". Paleontological Research. 7 (1): 9–41. doi:10.2517/prpsj.7.9. ISSN 1342-8144. S2CID 55178329. /wiki/Mikhail_Fedonkin ↩

  53. Franz G., Lyckberg P., Khomenko V., Chournousenko V., Schulz H.-M., Mahlstedt N., Wirth R., Glodny J., Gernert U., Nissen J. (2022). "Fossilization of Precambrian microfossils in the Volyn pegmatite, Ukraine" (PDF). Biogeosciences. 19 (6): 1795–1811. Bibcode:2022BGeo...19.1795F. doi:10.5194/bg-19-1795-2022.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/19/1795/2022/bg-19-1795-2022.pdf ↩

  54. "First Land Plants and Fungi Changed Earth's Climate, Paving the Way for Explosive Evolution of Land Animals, New Gene Study Suggests". science.psu.edu. Archived from the original on 2018-04-08. Retrieved 10 April 2018. The researchers found that land plants had evolved on Earth by about 700 million years ago and land fungi by about 1,300 million years ago — much earlier than previous estimates of around 480 million years ago, which were based on the earliest fossils of those organisms. https://web.archive.org/web/20180408205932/http://science.psu.edu/news-and-events/2001-news/Hedges8-2001.htm ↩

  55. Bernstein, Bernstein & Michod 2012, pp. 1–50 - Bernstein, Harris; Bernstein, Carol; Michod, Richard E. (2012). "DNA Repair as the Primary Adaptive Function of Sex in Bacteria and Eukaryotes". In Kimura, Sakura; Shimizu, Sora (eds.). DNA Repair: New Research. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers. ISBN 978-1-62100-808-8. LCCN 2011038504. OCLC 828424701. https://www.novapublishers.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=31918 ↩

  56. Bernstein, Harris; Byerly, Henry C.; Hopf, Frederic A.; Michod, Richard E. (October 7, 1984). "Origin of sex". Journal of Theoretical Biology. 110 (3): 323–351. Bibcode:1984JThBi.110..323B. doi:10.1016/S0022-5193(84)80178-2. ISSN 0022-5193. PMID 6209512. /wiki/Journal_of_Theoretical_Biology ↩

  57. Butterfield, Nicholas J. (Summer 2000). "Bangiomorpha pubescens n. gen., n. sp.: implications for the evolution of sex, multicellularity, and the Mesoproterozoic/Neoproterozoic radiation of eukaryotes". Paleobiology. 26 (3): 386–404. Bibcode:2000Pbio...26..386B. doi:10.1666/0094-8373(2000)026<0386:BPNGNS>2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0094-8373. S2CID 36648568. http://paleobiol.geoscienceworld.org/content/26/3/386.abstract ↩

  58. Strother, Paul K.; Battison, Leila; Brasier, Martin D.; Wellman, Charles H. (26 May 2011). "Earth's earliest non-marine eukaryotes". Nature. 473 (7348): 505–509. Bibcode:2011Natur.473..505S. doi:10.1038/nature09943. PMID 21490597. S2CID 4418860. /wiki/Bibcode_(identifier) ↩

  59. Zimmer, Carl (27 November 2019). "Is This the First Fossil of an Embryo? - Mysterious 609-million-year-old balls of cells may be the oldest animal embryos — or something else entirely". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2022-01-01. Retrieved 28 November 2019. /wiki/Carl_Zimmer ↩

  60. Cunningham, John A.; et al. (5 December 2016). "The origin of animals: Can molecular clocks and the fossil record be reconciled?". BioEssays. 39 (1): e201600120. doi:10.1002/bies.201600120. PMID 27918074. https://doi.org/10.1002%2Fbies.201600120 ↩

  61. Hoffman, Paul F.; Kaufman, Alan J.; Halverson, Galen P.; Schrag, Daniel P. (August 28, 1998). "A Neoproterozoic Snowball Earth" (PDF). Science. 281 (5381): 1342–1346. Bibcode:1998Sci...281.1342H. doi:10.1126/science.281.5381.1342. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 9721097. S2CID 13046760. Retrieved 2007-05-04. /wiki/Paul_F._Hoffman ↩

  62. Kirschvink 1992, pp. 51–52 - Kirschvink, Joseph L. (1992). "Late Proterozoic Low-Latitude Global Glaciation: the Snowball Earth" (PDF). In Schopf, J. William; Klein, Cornelis (eds.). The Proterozoic Biosphere: A Multidisciplinary Study. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-36615-1. LCCN 91015085. OCLC 23583672. http://web.gps.caltech.edu/~jkirschvink/pdfs/firstsnowball.pdf ↩

  63. "First Land Plants and Fungi Changed Earth's Climate, Paving the Way for Explosive Evolution of Land Animals, New Gene Study Suggests". www.sciencedaily.com. Retrieved 25 May 2022. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010810070021.htm ↩

  64. Žárský, J.; Žárský, V.; Hanáček, M.; Žárský, V. (2022-01-27). "Cryogenian Glacial Habitats as a Plant Terrestrialisation Cradle – The Origin of the Anydrophytes and Zygnematophyceae Split". Frontiers in Plant Science. 12. Frontiers: 735020. doi:10.3389/fpls.2021.735020. ISSN 1664-462X. PMC 8829067. PMID 35154170. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8829067 ↩

  65. Boyle, Richard A.; Lenton, Timothy M.; Williams, Hywel T. P. (December 2007). "Neoproterozoic 'snowball Earth' glaciations and the evolution of altruism" (PDF). Geobiology. 5 (4): 337–349. Bibcode:2007Gbio....5..337B. doi:10.1111/j.1472-4669.2007.00115.x. ISSN 1472-4677. S2CID 14827354. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-09-10. Retrieved 2015-03-09. /wiki/Tim_Lenton ↩

  66. Corsetti, Frank A.; Awramik, Stanley M.; Pierce, David (April 15, 2003). "A complex microbiota from snowball Earth times: Microfossils from the Neoproterozoic Kingston Peak Formation, Death Valley, USA". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 100 (8): 4399–4404. Bibcode:2003PNAS..100.4399C. doi:10.1073/pnas.0730560100. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 153566. PMID 12682298. /wiki/Stanley_Awramik ↩

  67. Corsetti, Frank A.; Olcott, Alison N.; Bakermans, Corien (March 22, 2006). "The biotic response to Neoproterozoic snowball Earth". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 232 (2–4): 114–130. Bibcode:2006PPP...232..114C. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2005.10.030. ISSN 0031-0182. /wiki/Palaeogeography,_Palaeoclimatology,_Palaeoecology ↩

  68. "Formation of the Ozone Layer". Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center. NASA. September 9, 2009. Retrieved 2013-05-26. https://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ozone/additional/science-focus/about-ozone/ozone_formation.shtml ↩

  69. Beraldi-Campesi, Hugo (February 23, 2013). "Early life on land and the first terrestrial ecosystems" (PDF). Ecological Processes. 2 (1): 4. Bibcode:2013EcoPr...2....1B. doi:10.1186/2192-1709-2-1. ISSN 2192-1709. S2CID 44199693. http://www.ecologicalprocesses.com/content/pdf/2192-1709-2-1.pdf ↩

  70. Narbonne, Guy (January 2008). "The Origin and Early Evolution of Animals". Kingston, Ontario, Canada: Queen's University. Archived from the original on 2015-07-24. Retrieved 2007-03-10. https://web.archive.org/web/20150724081804/http://geol.queensu.ca/people/narbonne/recent_pubs1.html ↩

  71. Waggoner, Ben M.; Collins, Allen G.; et al. (November 22, 1994). Rieboldt, Sarah; Smith, Dave (eds.). "The Cambrian Period". Tour of geologic time (Online exhibit). Berkeley, CA: University of California Museum of Paleontology. Retrieved 2015-03-09. http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/cambrian/cambrian.php ↩

  72. Lane, Abby (January 20, 1999). "Timing". The Cambrian Explosion. Bristol, England: University of Bristol. Retrieved 2015-03-09. http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/Palaeofiles/Cambrian/timing/timing.html ↩

  73. Chen, Jun-Yuan; Schopf, J. William; Bottjer, David J.; Zhang, Chen-Yu; Kudryavtsev, Anatoliy B.; Tripathi, Abhishek B.; Wang, Xiu-Qiang; Yang, Yong-Hua; Gao, Xiang; Yang, Ying (2007-04-10). "Raman spectra of a Lower Cambrian ctenophore embryo from southwestern Shaanxi, China". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 104 (15): 6289–6292. Bibcode:2007PNAS..104.6289C. doi:10.1073/pnas.0701246104. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 1847456. PMID 17404242. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1847456 ↩

  74. Müller, W. E. G.; Jinhe Li; Schröder, H. C.; Li Qiao; Xiaohong Wang (2007-05-03). "The unique skeleton of siliceous sponges (Porifera; Hexactinellida and Demospongiae) that evolved first from the Urmetazoa during the Proterozoic: a review". Biogeosciences. 4 (2): 219–232. Bibcode:2007BGeo....4..219M. doi:10.5194/bg-4-219-2007. ISSN 1726-4170. S2CID 15471191. https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/4/219/2007/ ↩

  75. "Corals and sea anemones (anthozoa)". Smithsonian's National Zoo. 2018-12-11. Retrieved 2022-09-24. https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/corals-and-sea-anemones-anthozoa ↩

  76. Grazhdankin, Dima (February 8, 2016). "Patterns of distribution in the Ediacaran biotas: facies versus biogeography and evolution". Paleobiology. 30 (2): 203–221. doi:10.1666/0094-8373(2004)030<0203:PODITE>2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0094-8373. S2CID 129376371. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/paleobiology/article/abs/patterns-of-distribution-in-the-ediacaran-biotas-facies-versus-biogeography-and-evolution/E1A8C6052128EB081CB260731B5628A6 ↩

  77. Clarke, Tom (April 30, 2002). "Oldest fossil footprints on land". Nature. doi:10.1038/news020429-2. ISSN 1744-7933. Retrieved 2015-03-09. The oldest fossils of footprints ever found on land hint that animals may have beaten plants out of the primordial seas. Lobster-sized, centipede-like animals made the prints wading out of the ocean and scuttling over sand dunes about 530 million years ago. Previous fossils indicated that animals didn't take this step until 40 million years later. http://www.nature.com/news/2002/020430/full/news020429-2.html ↩

  78. "Graptolites". British Geological Survey. Retrieved 2022-09-24. https://www.bgs.ac.uk/discovering-geology/fossils-and-geological-time/graptolites/ ↩

  79. Leutwyler, Kristin. "511-Million-Year-Old Fossil Suggests Pre-Cambrian Origins for Crustaceans". Scientific American. Retrieved 2022-09-24. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/511-million-year-old-foss/ ↩

  80. Garwood, Russell J.; Edgecombe, Gregory D. (September 2011). "Early Terrestrial Animals, Evolution, and Uncertainty". Evolution: Education and Outreach. 4 (3): 489–501. doi:10.1007/s12052-011-0357-y. ISSN 1936-6426. https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs12052-011-0357-y ↩

  81. Landing, Ed; Westrop, Stephen R. (September 1, 2006). "Lower Ordovician Faunas, Stratigraphy, and Sea-Level History of the Middle Beekmantown Group, Northeastern New York". Journal of Paleontology. 80 (5): 958–980. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2006)80[958:LOFSAS]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0022-3360. S2CID 130848432. https://bioone.org/journals/journal-of-paleontology/volume-80/issue-5/0022-3360_2006_80_958_LOFSAS_2.0.CO_2/LOWER-ORDOVICIAN-FAUNAS-STRATIGRAPHY-AND-SEA-LEVEL-HISTORY-OF-THE/10.1666/0022-3360(2006)80%5b958:LOFSAS%5d2.0.CO;2.full ↩

  82. Serb, Jeanne M.; Eernisse, Douglas J. (September 25, 2008). "Charting Evolution's Trajectory: Using Molluscan Eye Diversity to Understand Parallel and Convergent Evolution". Evolution: Education and Outreach. 1 (4): 439–447. doi:10.1007/s12052-008-0084-1. ISSN 1936-6434. S2CID 2881223. https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs12052-008-0084-1 ↩

  83. Niedźwiedzki, Grzegorz; Szrek, Piotr; Narkiewicz, Katarzyna; Narkiewicz, Marek; Ahlberg, Per E. (January 1, 2010). "Tetrapod trackways from the early Middle Devonian period of Poland" (PDF). Nature. 463 (7277): 43–48. Bibcode:2010Natur.463...43N. doi:10.1038/nature08623. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 20054388. S2CID 4428903. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 25, 2022. Retrieved September 25, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220925024303/https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/46752909/trackways-with-cover-page-v2.pdf?Expires=1664076708&Signature=T90exV-98rO1WUlSoLdNXTzzvqxsI-rCpzhxd1xC6Pt2wc-hH2xVdXEP57MFHFhPw5yfMK9kf5bRJ6WTM1WH-jXOTPfHoKUJVPH-s50O0~h6F0yg1HemExF546SgHoUEJ4a-HVpyzB2IXHNB8atvNjpfHTburCWCtaN8h4-Axs8yadT5uS8rNSgBgOZeXYJdHYk9D3FZ3vuEUC44QTxZKio2qF7G32CvptPzkd7D8IPzcqIUymSeErAXy9zTp1Ep2Vc9ttecV4DqNuV0VSGewUek-JvvBfI4gwaRJxOdZCvpoyDVRGfE5~xNYcGvmZr1WsAnHTOMRNmYDxGklQ52fw__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA ↩

  84. "Details of Evolutionary Transition from Fish to Land Animals Revealed". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2022-09-25. https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=112416 ↩

  85. Clack, Jennifer A. (November 21, 2005). "Getting a Leg Up on Land". Scientific American. 293 (6): 100–107. Bibcode:2005SciAm.293f.100C. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1205-100. PMID 16323697. Archived from the original on 2007-02-25. https://web.archive.org/web/20070225023805/http://sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=000DC8B8-EA15-137C-AA1583414B7F0000 ↩

  86. Martin, R. Aidan. "Evolution of a Super Predator". Biology of Sharks and Rays. North Vancouver, BC, Canada: ReefQuest Centre for Shark Research. Retrieved 2015-03-10. The ancestry of sharks dates back more than 200 million years before the earliest known dinosaur. http://www.elasmo-research.org/education/evolution/evol_s_predator.htm ↩

  87. "Devonian Fossil Forest Unearthed in China | Paleontology | Sci-News.com". Breaking Science News | Sci-News.com. Retrieved 2019-09-28. http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/xinhang-forest-07484.html ↩

  88. "Amphibia". paleobiodb.org. Retrieved 2022-10-07. https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=36319&is_real_user=1 ↩

  89. Benton, M.J.; Donoghue, P.C.J. (2006). "Palaeontological evidence to date the tree of life". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 24 (1): 26–53. doi:10.1093/molbev/msl150. PMID 17047029. https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fmolbev%2Fmsl150 ↩

  90. "Origin and Early Evolution of Amniotes | Frontiers Research Topic". www.frontiersin.org. Retrieved 2022-10-07. https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/14947/origin-and-early-evolution-of-amniotes#:~:text=Amniotes%20first%20appeared%20in%20the%20fossil%20record%20about%20318%20million,attention%20over%20the%20past%20decades. ↩

  91. "Amniota". Palaeos. Retrieved 2015-03-09. http://www.palaeos.org/Amniota ↩

  92. Kemp, T. S. (February 16, 2006). "The origin and early radiation of the therapsid mammal-like reptiles: a palaeobiological hypothesis". Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 19 (4): 1231–1247. doi:10.1111/j.1420-9101.2005.01076.x. ISSN 1010-061X. PMID 16780524. S2CID 3184629. https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.1420-9101.2005.01076.x ↩

  93. Sahney, Sarda; Benton, Michael J. (April 7, 2008). "Recovery from the most profound mass extinction of all time". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 275 (1636): 759–765. doi:10.1098/rspb.2007.1370. ISSN 0962-8452. PMC 2596898. PMID 18198148. /wiki/Michael_Benton ↩

  94. Rybicki, Ed (April 2008). "Origins of Viruses". Introduction of Molecular Virology (Lecture). Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa: University of Cape Town. Archived from the original on 2009-05-09. Retrieved 2015-03-10. Viruses of nearly all the major classes of organisms - animals, plants, fungi and bacteria / archaea - probably evolved with their hosts in the seas, given that most of the evolution of life on this planet has occurred there. This means that viruses also probably emerged from the waters with their different hosts, during the successive waves of colonisation of the terrestrial environment. https://web.archive.org/web/20090509094459/http://www.mcb.uct.ac.za/tutorial/virorig.html ↩

  95. US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "What are the vampire squid and the vampire fish?". oceanservice.noaa.gov. Retrieved 2019-09-27. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/vampire-squid-fish.html ↩

  96. Dell'Amore, Christine (April 24, 2014). "Meet Kryptodrakon: Oldest Known Pterodactyl Found in China". National Geographic News. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on April 25, 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-25. https://web.archive.org/web/20140425022505/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/04/140424-pterodactyl-pterosaur-china-oldest-science-animals/ ↩

  97. Greshko, Michael (2020-02-11). "Oldest evidence of modern bees found in Argentina". National Geographic. Archived from the original on February 23, 2021. Retrieved 2022-06-22. The model shows that modern bees started diversifying at a breakneck pace about 114 million years ago, right around the time that eudicots—the plant group that comprises 75 percent of flowering plants—started branching out. The results, which confirm some earlier genetic studies, strengthen the case that flowering plants and pollinating bees have coevolved from the very beginning. https://web.archive.org/web/20210223204426/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/oldest-ever-fossil-bee-nests-discovered-in-patagonia ↩

  98. Moreau, Corrie S.; Bell, Charles D.; Vila, Roger; Archibald, S. Bruce; Pierce, Naomi E. (2006-04-07). "Phylogeny of the Ants: Diversification in the Age of Angiosperms". Science. 312 (5770): 101–104. Bibcode:2006Sci...312..101M. doi:10.1126/science.1124891. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 16601190. S2CID 20729380. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1124891 ↩

  99. Sereno, P. C.; Myhrvold, N.; Henderson, D. M.; Fish, F. E.; Vidal, D.; Baumgart, S. L.; Keillor, T. M.; Formoso, K. K.; Conroy, L. L. (2022-10-05). "Spinosaurus is not an aquatic dinosaur". eLife. 11: e80092. doi:10.7554/eLife.80092. PMC 9711522. PMID 36448670. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9711522 ↩

  100. "Mindat.org". www.mindat.org. Retrieved 2022-10-03. https://www.mindat.org/taxon-704.html ↩

  101. Grossnickle, David M.; Newham, Elis (2016-06-15). "Therian mammals experience an ecomorphological radiation during the Late Cretaceous and selective extinction at the K–Pg boundary". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 283 (1832): 20160256. doi:10.1098/rspb.2016.0256. PMC 4920311. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4920311 ↩

  102. "Mammals began their takeover long before the death of the dinosaurs". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 2022-09-25. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160607220628.htm ↩

  103. Finds, Study (2021-12-02). "T-rex fossil reveals dinosaur from 68 million years ago likely had a terrible toothache!". Study Finds. Retrieved 2022-09-24. https://studyfinds.org/t-rex-fossil-toothache/ ↩

  104. Chiappe, Luis M.; Dyke, Gareth J. (November 2002). "The Mesozoic Radiation of Birds". Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. 33 (1): 91–124. Bibcode:2002AnRES..33...91C. doi:10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.33.010802.150517. ISSN 1545-2069. /wiki/Luis_M._Chiappe ↩

  105. "About > The Origins of Oaks". www.oaksofchevithornebarton.com. Retrieved 2019-09-28. http://www.oaksofchevithornebarton.com/about-history-of-garden.cfm? ↩

  106. Karmin M, Saag L, Vicente M, et al. (April 2015). "A recent bottleneck of Y chromosome diversity coincides with a global change in culture". Genome Research. 25 (4): 459–466. doi:10.1101/gr.186684.114. ISSN 1088-9051. PMC 4381518. PMID 25770088. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4381518 ↩

  107. Brown, Frank; Fleagle, John; McDougall, Ian (February 16, 2005). "The Oldest Homo sapiens" (Press release). Salt Lake City, UT: University of Utah. Archived from the original on 2015-08-02. Retrieved 2015-03-10. /wiki/John_G._Fleagle ↩

  108. Alemseged, Zeresenay; Coppens, Yves; Geraads, Denis (February 2002). "Hominid cranium from Homo: Description and taxonomy of Homo-323-1976-896" (PDF). American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 117 (2): 103–112. doi:10.1002/ajpa.10032. ISSN 0002-9483. PMID 11815945. /wiki/Zeresenay_Alemseged ↩

  109. "International Stratigraphic Chart (v 2014/10)" (PDF). Beijing, China: International Commission on Stratigraphy. Retrieved 2015-03-11. http://www.stratigraphy.org/ICSchart/ChronostratChart2014-10.jpg ↩