A new supra group in the tree of life

Posted on 17 Dec 2018 @ 1:57pm by Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim

https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-a-newfound-kingdom-means-for-the-tree-of-life-20181211/

The tree of life just got another major branch. Researchers recently found a certain rare and mysterious microbe called a hemimastigote in a clump of Nova Scotian soil. Their subsequent analysis of its DNA revealed that it was neither animal, plant, fungus nor any recognized type of protozoan — that it in fact fell far outside any of the known large categories for classifying complex forms of life (eukaryotes). Instead, this flagella-waving oddball stands as the first member of its own “supra-kingdom” group, which probably peeled away from the other big branches of life at least a billion years ago.

Makes you wonder what else is out there or was at one time.

Category: General News

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