Gondwanagaricites magnificus

Gondwanagaricites magnificus
	Gondwanagaricites magnificus , photograph of the holotype (A) and drawing with main morphological features marked (B)
Temporal occurrence
	Aptium to Albium
	122.46 to 112.6 million years
Locations
	Brazil;
Systematics
Class :	Agaricomycetes
Subclass :	Agaricomycetidae
Order :	Mushroom-like (Agaricales)
Family :	Incertae sedis
Genus :	Gondwanagaricites
Type :	Gondwanagaricites magnificus
Scientific name of the genus
	Gondwanagaricites
	Heads , AN Mill. & JL Crane
Scientific name of the species
	Gondwanagaricites magnificus
	Heads , AN Mill. & JL Crane

Gondwanagaricites magnificus is an extinct species of lamellar mushroom from the order of the mushroom-like and the oldest mushroom described so far. The find comes from the Lower Cretaceous and is 115 million years old.

Find history and naming

Find

Gondwanagaricites magnificus was found in the Crato formation of the Araripe Geopark in Ceará ( Brazil ). While the previously known fossil mushrooms made of amber inclusions are known, the species remained mineralized in stratified limestone. The fossil's good condition is unusual, as the soft fruiting bodies of most mushrooms, especially the mushroom-like ones, rarely petrify .

The species is the first known fossil mushroom from Gondwana .

etymology

The generic name is made up of Gondwana , the ancient Greek word agarikon (ἀγαρικόν = "mushroom"), and the suffix ‑ites (which denotes a fossil). The type epithet is the Latin adjective magnificus , which means "splendid" in relation to the remarkably good condition of the holotype .

features

The holotype (URM-88000) is an almost completely preserved fruiting body, the originally organic components of which were replaced by goethite during fossilization . As a result, it has a leather-brown color and is handed down on a limestone slab about 50 × 60 mm in size.

The hat has a diameter of 10 mm and is 7.5 mm high at the widest point. It was probably bald, convex, and round. The brim of the hat was slightly arched and probably grooved . The trama is 3 mm thick. The lamellae are broadly attached to the stem, 4.5 mm wide at the widest point and have edges up to 50 µm thick. The longitudinally striped stem is 34 mm long and 6.5 mm wide, straight and cylindrical with a slightly thickened base. Gondwanagaricites magnificus showed no annulus or other velum structures. No spores were found when examined using a scanning electron microscope .

Systematics

Due to the well-preserved characteristics, the find could be identified as a lamellar mushroom of the order of the mushroom-like (Agaricales). The habit of the find with the stocky structure, the small size, the thick hat flesh, the lamellas attached to the stem and the lack of velum structures indicate a representative of the Trümmling relatives , but other families such as the mushroom relatives , the dung relatives or the Knight relatives have similar characteristics. An examination of the size, shape and ornament of the spores would be necessary to distinguish them. However, since no spores were found, a reliable assignment to a family is not possible.

importance

Despite the worldwide distribution of the fungi, which presumably have existed as a species-rich group for 1.4 billion years, there is hardly any fossil evidence of the often short-lived and soft fruiting bodies. Although the first evidence of a mushroom by fossil hyphae with buckles is 330 million years old, so far only ten fossils of lamellar fungus- like organisms have been found, all of which have been preserved in amber, including Palaeoagaricites antiquus (approx. 99 million years old), Archaeomarasmius leggetti (approx 90-94 million years old), Gerontomyces lepidotus (approx. 45-55 million years old) and Aureofungus yaniguaensis , Coprinites dominicana and Protomycena electra (each approx. 16-18 million years old).

Gondwanagaricites magnificus is the oldest find of a lamellar fungus and is the only mineralized fungus to date and the only evidence from Gondwana. He also sets a new minimum age for the mushroom-like by confirming that they have existed for 113-120 million years.

Web links

Commons : Gondwanagaricites magnificus - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

^ The PLOS ONE Editors: Correction: The oldest fossil mushroom . In: PLOS ONE . tape 13 , no. 6 , June 21, 2018, ISSN 1932-6203 , p. e0199660 , doi : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0199660 , PMID 29928040 , PMC 6013107 (free full text) - ( plos.org [accessed June 13, 2021]).
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Sam W. Heads, Andrew N. Miller, J. Leland Crane, M. Jared Thomas, Danielle M. Ruffatto: The oldest fossil mushroom . In: PLOS ONE . tape 12 , no. 6 , June 7, 2017, ISSN 1932-6203 , p. e0178327 , doi : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0178327 , PMID 28591180 , PMC 5462346 (free full text) - ( plos.org [accessed June 13, 2021]).
^ ^A ^b Sam W. Heads, Andrew N. Miller, J. Leland Crane: On the name of the oldest fossil mushroom . In: Mycological Progress . tape 16 , no. 11 , December 1, 2017, ISSN 1861-8952 , p. 1071-1072 , doi : 10.1007 / s11557-017-1355-4 .

[1] The PLOS ONE Editors: Correction: The oldest fossil mushroom . In: PLOS ONE . tape 13 , no. 6 , June 21, 2018, ISSN 1932-6203 , p. e0199660 , doi : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0199660 , PMID 29928040 , PMC 6013107 (free full text) - ( plos.org [accessed June 13, 2021]).

[:0-2] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Sam W. Heads, Andrew N. Miller, J. Leland Crane, M. Jared Thomas, Danielle M. Ruffatto: The oldest fossil mushroom . In: PLOS ONE . tape 12 , no. 6 , June 7, 2017, ISSN 1932-6203 , p. e0178327 , doi : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0178327 , PMID 28591180 , PMC 5462346 (free full text) - ( plos.org [accessed June 13, 2021]).

[:1-3] A ^b Sam W. Heads, Andrew N. Miller, J. Leland Crane: On the name of the oldest fossil mushroom . In: Mycological Progress . tape 16 , no. 11 , December 1, 2017, ISSN 1861-8952 , p. 1071-1072 , doi : 10.1007 / s11557-017-1355-4 .