The oldest traces for planktonic lifestyle have been reported in ca. 3.4 billion years old silicified sediments from the Strelley Pool Formation in Western Australia. Observation of flange appendages suggests that Archean life motility was passive and driven by drifting of microorganisms in their surrounding environment. Until now, the oldest traces for active motility are ca. 2.1 billion years old. Whether or not active motility already existed during the Archean eon remains an open question. Here we report the discovery of new 3.4 billion years old tailed microfossils. These microfossils exhibit a lash-like appendage that likely provided them with movement capabilities. This suggests that these microfossils are the oldest remains of active motile life forms. With the ability to move in liquids and on organic and/or mineral surfaces, these microorganisms were capable of escaping from harsh environments and/or colonizing new ecological niches as early as 3.4 billion years ago. The existence of these deep-rooted Archean motile life forms offers a new picture of the Archean biodiversity, with unanticipated evolutionary innovative morphological complexities.

中文翻译：

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3.4年代久远的有机壁微化石的运动性证据？

约有报道浮游生活方式的最古老痕迹。来自西澳大利亚Strelley Pool组的34亿年前硅化沉积物。对法兰附件的观察表明，太古生物的生命运动是被动的，并受到周围环境中微生物漂移的驱动。到目前为止，最早的主动运动痕迹大约是。21亿年历史。在太古宙时代是否已经存在活跃的动力仍然是一个悬而未决的问题。在这里，我们报告发现有34亿年历史的新型尾状微化石。这些微化石表现出类似睫毛的附属物，可能为它们提供了运动能力。这表明这些微化石是活跃的运动生命形式的最古老的遗骸。具有在液体中以及在有机和/或矿物表面上移动的能力，这些微生物早在34亿年前就能够逃离恶劣的环境和/或定居新的生态位。这些根深蒂固的太古代运动生活形式的存在提供了太古代生物多样性的新图景，具有意想不到的进化创新形态学复杂性。