Terrestrial Soft-Bodied Protists and Other Microorganisms in Triassic Amber

Protozoa, cyanobacteria, sheathed algae, sheathed fungi, germinating pollen or spores, and fungal spores have been found in amber 220 to 230 million years old. Many of these microorganisms can be assigned to present-day groups. This discovery of terrestrial, soft-bodied protists that can be referred to modern groups indicates that morphological evolution is very gradual in many protists and that both structural and probably functional stasis extend back at least to the Upper Triassic period.