The eukaryote fossil record opens
Cells with visible internal structure and ornamented walls appear — unmistakably complex.
- When
- Known to
- ± 50 million years
- Era
- Paleoproterozoic, Proterozoic
By around 1.65 billion years ago the fossil record contains acritarchs with sculpted, multi-layered walls and other features no prokaryote produces. These are the earliest widely accepted eukaryote body fossils, and they postdate the molecular origin of the group by several hundred million years. From here complex cells are continuously present in the record.