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Published online 20 November 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.1242
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Seabed tracks suggest new origin of animal life
First evidence that earliest fossils could be attributed to protozoans.
The discovery of tracks on the sea floor made by a giant single-celled organism could prompt palaeontologists to reassess the origins of animal life on Earth.
The tracks, found by biologists on a research dive around the Bahamas, measure up to 50 centimetres long and are thought to be made by Gromia sphaerica, a marshmallow-like protozoan measuring around 30 millimetres in diameter, as it moves along the sea floor.
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