Phosphatocopida
Phosphatocopida is a proposed order of microscopic, single-celled eukaryotes known only from phosphatized fossil remains found in ancient marine sediments. The defining material is a phosphate- mineralized test or shell, often sub-spherical in outline, with wall architectures and surface ornamentation that are visible in microscopy. Because soft tissues are not preserved, knowledge of their biology is limited to morphology and inferred characteristics from the fossilized structures.
The precise phylogenetic position of Phosphatocopida remains uncertain. The group was established to classify a set
Discovery and nomenclature: Phosphatocopida was erected to categorize a suite of fossils recovered from phosphate-rich sedimentary
Distribution and significance: Fossils attributed to Phosphatocopida have been reported from multiple phosphate-bearing basins around the
See also: phosphatization, phosphatic microfossils, early eukaryote evolution.
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