477 / Precambrian
Chuaria
Chuaria circularis
Circular carbon films may represent a giant single-celled eukaryote traditionally called an alga.
View original image · 1600 × 1067- Time range
- About 1 billion–540 million years ago
- Final stage
- End of the Ediacaran
- Geographic range
- Shallow seas and lagoons · Worldwide
01 / DEFINITION & ECOLOGY
What was Chuaria?
Chuaria (Chuaria circularis) was an extinct organism known from About 1 billion–540 million years ago, with a range in Shallow seas and lagoons · Worldwide.
Life and ecology
It may have floated or lived near the bottom and obtained energy through photosynthesis.
02 / DISAPPEARANCE
Why did Chuaria disappear?
Plankton and ecosystems changed around the Cambrian, but this does not establish why this morphospecies disappeared.
03 / EVIDENCE
How do scientists know about Chuaria?
Widespread films, wall layers and chemistry support a eukaryote, not a precise affinity.
04 / SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Check the source record
Use the scientific name to compare taxonomy, occurrence records and the fossil record. Database coverage and classifications may differ.
05 / REVISION HISTORY
How has this record changed?
- Rewrote an extinction cause that presented environmental or faunal turnover as established; it is now given as context the record does not prove.
- Verified authoritative entity sources and added three responsive reconstruction sizes.
- Initial bilingual species record published.
06 / CORRECTIONS & ADDITIONS