Science and Engineering: Innovation, Research, Education and Economics
January 23, 2008
Plants, Unikonts, Excavates and SARs

image of 4 biology supergroups

The Tree of Life Has Lost a Branch

“The results were pretty astounding. All non-bacterial life on Earth - called eukaryotic life - can now be divided into four main groups instead of the five groups that we have been working with up to now,” says Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi, an associate professor from the University of Oslo’s Department of Biology

All life on Earth can be divided into two essentially different life forms—eukaryotes and prokaryotes. The eukaryotes gather their genetic material in a nucleus, while the prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea) have their genetic material floating freely in the cell. Eukaryotic organisms—such as humans—can, as a result of the new findings, be divided into the following four categories:

  • Plants (green and red algae, and plants)
  • Opisthokonts (amoebas, fungi, and all animals—including humans)
  • Excavates (free-living organisms and parasites)
  • SAR (the new main group, an abbreviation of Stramenophiles, Alveolates, and Rhizaria, the names of some of its members)


Three billion years ago, there was only bacteria and Archaea. Eukaryotic life, which comprises all multi-celled organisms, developed in the sea—probably between 1.2 and 1.6 billion years ago. It was not before about 500 million years ago that the first creatures crept onto land.

Related: research article Phylogenomics Reshuffles the Eukaryotic Supergroups - Evolution is Fundamental to Science - The Decline and Fall of the Animal Kingdom

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