---
title: "New Research Adds Another Branch to the Evolutionary Tree of Life"
description: "Researchers studying a tiny microbe discover that it warrants the creation of an entirely new branch on the Charles Darwin-created Tree of Life."
date: "2018-11-16"
modified: "2018-11-16"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin.md"
url: "https://futurism.com/tree-life-evolution-hemimastigotes"
categories:
  - "Evolution"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "evolution"
  - "microbes"
  - "Tree of life"
---

# New Research Adds Another Branch to the Evolutionary Tree of Life

![Researchers studying a tiny microbe discover that it warrants the creation of an entirely new branch on the Charles Darwin-created Tree of Life.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/tree-life-evolution-hemimastigotes.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Dalhousie University\</em\>*

## Tree House

The [Tree of Life](<https://futurism.com/theres-revised-tree-life-1000-new-species.md>) is a metaphor established by Charles Darwin to give some perspective to evolution. Every living organism on Earth has a home somewhere on the Tree, and by looking at it, we can see how species relate to one another.

While we've known about a type of microbe called hemimastigotes since the 1800s, it turns out we were totally wrong about where they fit on the Tree of Life — because they didn't fit on any of the existing branches.

## Home of Its Own

In a [study](<https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0708-8>) published Wednesday in the journal *Nature*, researchers from Dalhousie University detail their discovery that hemimastigotes are so unlike anything else in the Tree of Life, they require the creation of a brand-new branch.

"It was clear from our analyses that hemimastigotes didn’t belong to any known kingdom-level group, or even to a known 'super-group' of several kingdoms together, like the one that includes both animals and fungi," researcher Alastair Simpson said in a news release.

"This one little collection of organisms is a whole new group at that level, all on its own," she continued. "It’s a branch of the Tree of Life that has been separate for a very long time, perhaps more than a billion years, and we had no information on it whatsoever."

## Evolution of Tech

The Dalhousie team was only able to reach this conclusion thanks to an advanced genetic analysis technique that wasn't available when scientists first discovered hemimastigotes.

"That such a distinct form of life could be hiding literally under our feet," Simpson said in the press release, "is a sharp reminder about how little we still know about the diversity of life on Earth."

And as our technologies advance even further, there's no telling what else we might discover — or how many other branches we might add to the Tree of Life.

**READ MORE:** [Hidden in Plain Sight: Dal Evolutionary Biologists Uncover a New Branch on the Tree of Life](<https://www.dal.ca/news/2018/11/15/hidden-in-plain-sight--dal-evolutionary-biologists-uncover-a-new.html>) \[Dalhousie University\]

***More on the Tree of Life: [There’s a Revised “Tree of Life,” and It Has 1000+ New Species](<https://futurism.com/theres-revised-tree-life-1000-new-species.md>)***

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)

## More

- [There’s a Revised “Tree Of Life,” And It Has 1000+ New Species](<https://futurism.com/theres-revised-tree-life-1000-new-species.md>)
- [Scientists May Have Uncovered the Key to the Origin of Complex Life](<https://futurism.com/asgard-microbes-might-be-key-to-origin-of-complex-life.md>)
- [A Key Evolutionary Step May Mean Intelligent Alien Life Doesn’t Exist in the Universe](<https://futurism.com/evolutionary-biology-intelligent-alien-life.md>)
- [Multicellular Life Was Caused By The Same Gene That Suppresses Cancer](<https://futurism.com/multicellular-life-caused-one-gene-gene-suppresses-cancer.md>)
- [These Fake Liquid Trees Are Enraging the Internet](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/fake-liquid-trees-enraging-the-internet.md>)
- [Redwoods: The Biggest Trees On Earth](<https://futurism.com/the-biggest-trees-on-earth.md>)
- [Scientists Just Discovered Organisms That Are Distinct From Any Life Forms Known to Science](<https://futurism.com/scientists-just-discovered-organisms-that-are-distinct-from-any-life-forms-known-to-science.md>)
- [A Strange Creature Discovered by Darwin Has Baffled Researchers for Decades](<https://futurism.com/strange-creature-discovered-darwin-baffled-researchers-decades.md>)