Precambrian Eukaryotic Organisms: A Reassessment of the Evidence

Comparison of partially degraded unialgal cultures of Chroococcus turgidus with coccoid microfossils from the Late Precambrian Bitter Springs formation, Australia, suggests that the Precambrian fossil record has been seriously misinterpreted. Use of degradational features as taxonomic characters has resulted in unrealistically high estimates of Precambrian algal diversity. There is at present no compelling evidence for the presence of eukaryotic microfossils in rocks from the Bitter Springs formation or any older sedimentary sequences.