... 2018 25 5 2018 © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society and the Royal Society of Biology 2018 Earth history eukaryotes multicellularity Summary Animals represent the only complex multicellular clade to have evolved...

.... Compilations of Proterozoic microfossils and macrofossils apparently support a Tonian increase in global taxonomic diversity and morphological range relative to the Mesoproterozoic Era, although this is not reflected in assemblage-level diversity patterns. The fossil record suggests that major eukaryote groups...

... that there are discrepancies between the biomarker, fossil, and molecular records. However, these discrepancies probably represent long time periods between the diversification of eukaryotic groups through the Neoproterozoic and their eventual rise to ecological significance. This ‘long fuse’ hypothesis contrasts...