Archaea emerged as one of the two primary cellular lineages after LUCA. Though often grouped with bacteria as “prokaryotes,” archaea are genetically distinct. Modern evidence suggests that eukaryotes — and therefore plants, fungi, and animals — evolved from within an archaeal lineage that later incorporated a bacterium as mitochondria.
LUCA
→ Bacteria
→ Archaea
→ Eukaryotes
→ Plants / Fungi / Animals
