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
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