Explore: Fossil Protista

kingdom known as Protista or Protoctista. With the advent of phylogenetic analysis and electron microscopy studies, the use of Protista as a formal taxon

Protist Protists in the fossil record The first eukaryotes were “neither plants, animals, nor fungi”, hence as defined, the Protista would include the earliest

independent class of Rhizopoda, and later as a new eukaryotic phylum of Protista. Phylogenetic studies suggest that xenophyophores are a specialized group

considered a protozoan by the International Society of Protistologists (see Protista, below). Molecular analysis of Zygomycota has found it to be polyphyletic

with known fossil groups incorporated. One of the first modern groups tied to fossil ancestors was birds. Using the then newly discovered fossils of Archaeopteryx

the Protophyta". In 1866, Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919) proposed the name "Protista" for the primigenial kingdom and included bacteria in this third kingdom

snake family Uropeltidae found only in the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka. Fossil taxa from the Cretaceous show links to the Seychelles and Madagascar chain

volume is out of print but a pdf is available here. Part B. Protoctista / Protista, Volume 1: Charophyta, Sub-volume 1, 2005 available here. ISBN 0-8137-3002-3

single-celled eukaryotes, the Protista, in 1866. The eukaryotes thus came to be seen as four kingdoms: Kingdom Protista Kingdom Plantae Kingdom Fungi

super-kingdom Protista or Protoctista (and thus called protists or protoctists). Thus modern invertebrate paleontologists deal largely with fossils of this