Premium
FOSSIL FUNGI (ENDOGONACEAE) FROM THE TRIASSIC OF ANTARCTICA
Author(s) -
Taylor Thomas N.,
White James F.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.1002/j.1537-2197.1989.tb11326.x
Subject(s) - biology , extant taxon , fungus , botany , marine fungi , mycelium , spore , paleontology , peat , ecology , evolutionary biology
Fungal sporocarps are described from Triassic silicified peat deposits from Antarctica. Sporocarps possess a two‐layered wall and contain a single spore. The outer layer is mycelial; the inner layer, noncellular. The combination of primitive and advanced features suggests that this fungus is intermediate in complexity between the lower and evolutionarily more advanced fungi. The Antarctic fungus and morphologically similar fossils resemble extant members of the Endogonaceae, but appear to have been saprophytes rather than mycorrhizal symbionts.