Bacteria

Bacteria are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among the first life forms to appear on Earth, and are present in most of its habitats. Bacteria inhabit the air, soil, water, acidic hot springs, radioactive waste, and the deep biosphere of Earth's crust. Bacteria play a vital role in many stages of the nutrient cycle by recycling nutrients and the fixation of nitrogen from the atmosphere. The nutrient cycle includes the decomposition of dead bodies; bacteria are responsible for the putrefaction stage in this process. In the biological communities surrounding hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, extremophile bacteria provide the nutrients needed to sustain life by converting dissolved compounds, such as hydrogen sulphide and methane, to energy. Bacteria also live in mutualistic, commensal and parasitic relationships with plants and animals. Most bacteria have not been characterised and there are many species that cannot be grown in the laboratory. The study of bacteria is known as bacteriology, a branch of microbiology.

A picture published with the record for Bacteria. What it shows has not been checked.

NIAID · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
ProkaryotaPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 3197 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3200 Mya to 2.58 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 3600 Mya to 774 ka.

Cambrian — about 359 of 2824 occurrencesOrdovician — about 229 of 2824 occurrencesSilurian — about 77 of 2824 occurrencesDevonian — about 319 of 2824 occurrencesCarboniferous — about 141 of 2824 occurrencesPermian — about 137 of 2824 occurrencesEarly Triassic — about 2 of 2824 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 78 of 2824 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 192 of 2824 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 6 of 2824 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 16 of 2824 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 152 of 2824 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 164 of 2824 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 63 of 2824 occurrencesPaleocene — about 5 of 2824 occurrencesEocene — about 7 of 2824 occurrencesOligocene — about 1 of 2824 occurrencesMiocene — about 2 of 2824 occurrences3672–3550 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences3550–3427 Mya — about 2 occurrences3427–3305 Mya — about 2 occurrences3305–3182 Mya — about 1 occurrence2815–2693 Mya — about 2 occurrences2693–2570 Mya — about 2 occurrences2570–2448 Mya — about 1 occurrence2081–1958 Mya — about 31 occurrences1958–1836 Mya — about 41 occurrences1836–1714 Mya — about 54 occurrences1714–1591 Mya — about 62 occurrences1591–1469 Mya — about 88 occurrences1469–1346 Mya — about 62 occurrences1346–1224 Mya — about 27 occurrences1224–1102 Mya — about 41 occurrences1102–979 Mya — about 60 occurrences979–857 Mya — about 139 occurrences857–734 Mya — about 139 occurrences734–612 Mya — about 43 occurrences612–490 Mya — about 428 occurrences490–367 Mya — about 606 occurrences367–245 Mya — about 313 occurrences245–122 Mya — about 501 occurrences122–0 Mya — about 179 occurrences3200 Mya2.58 Mya3672 Mya0 Mya

2,824 occurrences of Bacteria on record, most of them in the Cambrian. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

2,824 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

530 formations

Bitter Springs — 23.58°S, 134.49°EBitter Springs — 23.79°S, 133.07°EKotuikan — 70.60°N, 104.60°EBarney Creek — 16.44°S, 136.09°EBarney Creek — 16.43°S, 136.04°EBurgess Shale — 51.44°N, 116.47°WBurgess Shale — 51.38°N, 116.43°WGaoyuzhuang — 39.14°N, 117.18°EGaoyuzhuang — 40.65°N, 115.43°EGaoyuzhuang — 40.16°N, 117.56°EAngmaat — 73.48°N, 80.76°WAngmaat — 73.38°N, 80.39°WAngmaat — 73.55°N, 78.87°WAngmaat — 72.27°N, 79.82°WAngmaat — 72.25°N, 79.97°WAngmaat — 72.24°N, 79.81°WAngmaat — 72.24°N, 79.49°WAngmaat — 72.14°N, 79.01°WAngmaat — 72.13°N, 79.40°WBalbirini Dolomite — 16.75°S, 135.74°EBalbirini Dolomite — 16.75°S, 135.74°EBenbolt — 37.10°N, 81.34°WBenbolt — 37.22°N, 81.36°WBenbolt — 37.23°N, 81.10°WBenbolt — 37.00°N, 81.00°WBenbolt — 37.23°N, 81.32°WBenbolt — 37.08°N, 81.71°WBenbolt — 37.10°N, 81.56°WBenbolt — 37.11°N, 81.52°WBenbolt — 37.27°N, 81.00°WBenbolt — 37.00°N, 81.67°WBenbolt — 37.02°N, 81.63°WBenbolt — 36.19°N, 83.93°WMcLeary — 56.54°N, 79.24°WYuhucun — 24.56°N, 102.72°EYuhucun — 24.71°N, 102.57°EVictor Bay — 73.31°N, 80.47°WVictor Bay — 72.33°N, 79.78°WDachstein — 47.45°N, 13.07°EDachstein — 47.58°N, 14.47°EDachstein — 47.50°N, 13.50°EDachstein — 47.45°N, 13.69°EDachstein — 48.00°N, 16.42°ESafetdara — 38.76°N, 70.89°ECraggy Dolomite — 65.26°N, 140.94°WKasegalik — 56.49°N, 79.51°WRyssö — 79.97°N, 18.28°ERyssö — 79.93°N, 18.46°ERyssö — 79.94°N, 18.41°EChangxing — 29.42°N, 110.90°EChangxing — 29.92°N, 106.43°EChangxing — 30.48°N, 109.05°EChangxing — 31.76°N, 108.46°EChangxing — 30.43°N, 108.53°EChangxing — 30.05°N, 108.93°EChangxing — 29.98°N, 109.08°EChangxing — 30.22°N, 109.05°EChangxing — 32.38°N, 107.11°EChangxing — 25.75°N, 112.82°ESalaany Gol — 46.87°N, 95.80°ESalaany Gol — 47.15°N, 96.90°EYunghsien — 25.35°N, 110.10°EYunghsien — 25.33°N, 110.12°EYusmastakh — 70.56°N, 104.32°EMatoppa — 39.27°N, 8.47°EMatoppa — 39.18°N, 8.55°EMatoppa — 39.35°N, 8.45°EMatoppa — 39.40°N, 8.45°EMatoppa — 39.37°N, 8.52°ECassian — 46.52°N, 11.65°ECassian — 46.51°N, 11.96°ECassian — 46.58°N, 12.25°ECassian — 46.64°N, 12.20°ECassian — 46.54°N, 11.90°EHeceta — 55.78°N, 133.17°WHeceta — 55.78°N, 133.48°WHeceta — 55.73°N, 133.47°WKindblade — 34.93°N, 98.73°WKindblade — 34.38°N, 96.93°WKindblade — 34.37°N, 97.13°WKindblade — 34.42°N, 97.27°W

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The named rock units Bacteria has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 506 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 658 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Bacteria and its relatives

Cambrian

Where Bacteria and its relatives were recorded in the Cambrian.

Found in the same rock

2,483 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records at least 954 sites for Bacteria, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

652 references

Each of the 2,824 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 640 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Bacteria

Credit
NIAID
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itProkaryota through timeFormations of the CambrianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Woese et al. 1990