Stuck in time – a new Chaenothecopsis species with proliferating ascomata from Cunninghamia resin and its fossil ancestors in European amber

Author:
Tuovila H., Schmidt A.R., Beimforde C., Dörfelt H., Grabenhorst H. & Rikkinen J.
Year:
2013
Journal:
Fungal Diversity
Pages:
58: 199–213
Url:
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13225-012-0210-9
thumb
Resin protects wounded trees from microbial in- fection, but also provides a suitable substrate for the growth of highly specialized fungi. Chaenothecopsis proliferatus is described growing on resin of Cunninghamia lanceolata from Hunan Province, China. The new fungus is compared with extant species and two new fossil specimens from Eocene Baltic and Oligocene Bitterfeld ambers. The Oligocene fossil had produced proliferating ascomata iden- tical to those of the newly described species and to other extant species of the same lineage. This morphology may represent an adaptation to growing near active resin flows: the proliferating ascomata can effectively rejuvenate if par- tially overrun by fresh, sticky exudate. Inward growth of fungal hyphae into resin has only been documented from Cenozoic amber fossils suggesting comparatively late occu- pation of resin as substrate by fungi. Still, resinicolous Chaenothecopsis species were already well adapted to their special ecological niche by the Eocene, and the morphology of these fungi has since remained remarkably constant. Keywords: Fossil fungi . Proliferating ascomata . Resin compounds . Ecology . Taxonomy.
Id:
36916
Submitter:
zpalice
Post_time:
Thursday, 10 October 2024 15:49