Bicellum brasieri Temporal range:
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Multiple specimens of B. brasieri, such as the holotype (A) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Clade: | Amorphea |
Clade: | Obazoa |
(unranked): | Opisthokonta |
(unranked): | Holozoa |
Genus: | †Bicellum |
Species: | †B. brasieri
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Binomial name | |
†Bicellum brasieri Strother et al. 2021[1]
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Bicellum brasieri is a fossil holozoan.[1] It is about 1 billion years old and could be the oldest example of complex multicellularity in the evolutionary lineage leading to the animals.[2][3] It was discovered in 2021,[3] and is named posthumously after the late palaeontologist Martin Brasier, who was a co-author of the paper that first described it.[4]
Bicellum was found in sediments from the Diabaig Formation in Loch Torridon, Scotland. The Diabaig Formation, considered to represent an ancient lake deposit,[5] was already known to preserve the first non-marine eukaryotes.[6]