FIG. 1.

Eukaryotic microfossil diversity through time. Data include all formations of mid-Proterozoic through Ediacaran age for which greater than five eukaryotic species have been identified (updated from Cohen and Macdonald, 2015). Orange bars indicate diversity in organic-walled microfossils; blue bars indicate diversity of vase-shaped microfossils (VSMs), mineralized scales, and tests. Formations are arranged chronologically and separated into time periods of interest as discussed in the text (horizontal axis is not a linear scale). Diversity of Ediacaran animals defined in terms of global groupings based on three well-documented assemblages (Avalon, White Sea, and Nama; Erwin et al., 2011). Supporting details are provided in the supplementary material (see Supplementary Fig. S1). *Oldest passing recent scrutiny; see Brocks et al. (2017) and text.