Stefan Bengtson

THE oldest plant-like fossils ever discovered suggest multicellular life began at least 1.6 billion years ago.

Fossils of red algae were found in rocks from Chitrakoot in central India embedded in mats of cyanobacteria, called stromatolites. “We have shown with great probability that plants have a history 400 million years older than previously known,” says Stefan Bengtson, at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm.

His team found distinct cellular structures inside the fossils characteristic of red algae, which are eukaryotic, meaning they have complex cells, like plants and humans. They also found platelets inside the cells, which could be early chloroplasts, the organelles where photosynthesis takes place (Plos Biology, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2000735).


The early development of the multicellular eukaryotic organisms is disputed due to the scarcity of fossils older than 1 billion years. If the new findings and dating of the fossils are correct, the theory of early complex life on Earth will need to be tweaked. “The tree of life has to be recalibrated,” says Bengtson.

This article appeared in print under the headline “Oldest plant-like fossils found in rock”