 As nucleated cells that lacked "nearly every other cell-inclusion of eukaryotes", "Pelomyxa" were, for a time, regarded as surviving "proto-Eukaryotes", standing somewhere between the bacteria and the modern cell.In 1973, it was proposed that the ancestors of "Pelomyxa palustris" had branched off from the eukaryote line before the advent of mitochondria In 1976, Jean M. Whatley wrote that "Pelomyxa palustris" "may justly be considered the most primitive eukaryotic organism living today.