Organisms on this planet are most often categorized as either plants, animals and fungi. Of course that’s a bit reductive and bacteria and other microorganisms exist, however, there is another type of organism on this planet and it has been stumping scientists with regards to its fossil history for years and now we finally know why.
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:04 Organisms on this planet are most often categorized as either plants, animals, or fungi.
00:09 Of course, that's a bit reductive, and bacteria and other microorganisms exist.
00:13 However, there is another type of organism on this planet,
00:16 and it has been stumping scientists with regards to its fossil history for years.
00:21 These are euglenids, or a group of single-celled eukaryotes that use both photosynthesis
00:26 and the eating of other cells for sustenance.
00:28 They split from the more commonly understood eukaryote about a billion years ago,
00:32 but there has been little fossil evidence collected for them.
00:35 Or has there?
00:36 Researchers recently realized that this is a euglenid fossil,
00:39 but it has been miscategorized since the 60s,
00:42 with biologists believing these fossils to be worm eggs, algal cysts, or fern spores,
00:47 and they have been evading scientists because of a special skill they possess.
00:50 In times of stress, euglenids are able to cocoon themselves in a protective cyst,
00:55 a process only recently observed in action.
00:57 With the researchers saying about it,
00:59 "We were much surprised by the ultra-structure of the cysts.
01:02 The structure of the wall does not resemble anything that is known."
01:06 Adding that this ability has allowed euglenids
01:08 to weather every extinction event our planet has ever seen,
01:11 even the one that did in the dinosaurs.
01:14 [MUSIC]