Butterfield, Nicholas J.Knoll, AndrewSwett, Keene2009-06-011990Butterfield, Nicholas J., Andrew H. Knoll, and Keene Swett. 1990. A Bangiophyte red alga from the Proterozoic of arctic Canada. Science 250 (4977): 104-107.0036-8075http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:3009564Silicified peritidal carbonate rocks of the 1250- to 750-million-year-old Hunting Formation, Somerset Island, arctic Canada, contain fossils of well-preserved bangiophyte red algae. Morphological details, especially the presence of multiseriate filaments composed of radially arranged wedge-shaped cells derived by longitudinal divisions from disc-shaped cells in uniseriate filaments, indicate that the fossils are related to extant species in the genus <i>Bangia</i>. Such taxonomic resolution distinguishes these fossils from other pre-Edicaran eukaryotes and contributes to growing evidence that multicellular algae diversified well before the Ediacaran radiation of large animals.en-US10.1126/science.11538072