Funding provided by: National Science FoundationROR ID: https://ror.org/021nxhr62Award Number: EAR-2021207 Funding provided by: National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaROR ID: https://ror.org/01h0zpd94Award Number: 42250104 Funding provided by: National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaROR ID: https://ror.org/01h0zpd94Award Number: 42272001 Funding provided by: National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaROR ID: https://ror.org/01h0zpd94Award Number: 41972005 Funding provided by: Fundamental Research Funds for the Central UniversitiesCrossref Funder Registry ID: Award Number: 0206-14380137 Funding provided by: Fundamental Research Funds for the Central UniversitiesAward Number: 0206-14380198 Funding provided by: National Key Research and Development Program of ChinaAward Number: 2022YFF0800303 Funding provided by: National Key Research and Development Program of ChinaCrossref Funder Registry ID: Award Number: 2022YFF0802700 Funding provided by: Chinese Academy of SciencesROR ID: https://ror.org/034t30j35Award Number: 2021307 Funding provided by: University of Hong KongROR ID: https://ror.org/02zhqgq86Award Number: Funding provided by: Hong Kong RGC-GRFAward Number: 17316022 Funding provided by: Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, ChinaCrossref Funder Registry ID: Award Number: HKU PDFS2122-7S02 Funding provided by: National Key Research and Development Program of ChinaAward Number: 2021YFA0718100

The global diversity of Proterozoic eukaryote fossils is poorly quantified despite its fundamental importance to the understanding of macroevolutionary patterns and dynamics on the early Earth. Here we report a new construction of fossil eukaryote diversity from the Paleoproterozoic to early Cambrian based on a comprehensive data compilation and quantitative analyses. The resulting taxonomic richness curve verifies Cryogenian glaciations as a major divide that separates the "Boring Billion" and Ediacaran Period, with the former characterized by a remarkable stasis and the latter by greater diversity, more rapid turnover, and multiple radiations and extinctions. These contrasting evolutionary patterns and dynamics provide a framework to test competing hypotheses on biosphere and geosphere co-evolution in the Proterozoic Eon.