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The first known footprints on land date to 530 Ma. [74] 520 Ma Earliest graptolites. [75] 511 Ma Earliest crustaceans. [76] 505 Ma Fossilization of the Burgess Shale: 500 Ma Jellyfish have existed since at least this time. 485 Ma First vertebrates with true bones (jawless fishes). 450 Ma First complete conodonts and echinoids appear. 440 Ma
The history of life on Earth traces the processes by which living and extinct organisms evolved, from the earliest emergence of life to the present day. Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago (abbreviated as Ga, for gigaannum) and evidence suggests that life emerged prior to 3.7 Ga. [1] [2] [3] The similarities among all known present-day species indicate that they have diverged through the ...
The pharyngeal slits (or gills) are now supported by connective tissue and used for filter feeding and possibly breathing. The first of these basal chordates to be discovered by science was Pikaia gracilens. [10] Other, earlier chordate predecessors include Myllokunmingia fengjiaoa, [11] Yunnanozoon lividum, [12] and Haikouichthys ercaicunensis ...
Earth is the only place in the universe known to harbor life, where it exists in myriad environments. [8] [9] The origin of life on Earth was at least 3.5 billion years ago, possibly as early as 3.8-4.1 billion years ago. [2] [3] [4] Since its emergence, life has persisted in several geological environments.
A variation of this analogy instead compresses Earth's 4.6 billion year-old history into a single day: While the Earth still forms at midnight, and the present day is also represented by midnight, the first life on Earth would appear at 4:00 am, dinosaurs would appear at 10:00 pm, the first flowers 10:30 pm, the first primates 11:30 pm, and ...
By Will Dunham. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Dinosaurs long dominated Earth's land ecosystems with a multitude of forms including plant-eating giants like Argentinosaurus, meat-eating brutes like ...
Eukaryogenesis, the process which created the eukaryotic cell and lineage, is a milestone in the evolution of life, since eukaryotes include all complex cells and almost all multicellular organisms. The process is widely agreed to have involved symbiogenesis , in which an archaeon and a bacterium came together to create the first eukaryotic ...
Artist's conception of Hadean Eon Earth, when it was much hotter and inhospitable to all forms of life. The first eon in Earth's history, the Hadean, begins with the Earth's formation and is followed by the Archean eon at 3.8 Ga. [2]: 145 The oldest rocks found on Earth date to about 4.0 Ga, and the oldest detrital zircon crystals in rocks to ...