Symbiosis is a fundamental biological relationship and metabolic strategy that drove eukaryotic evolution and shaped early ecosystems. Lichens, as symbiotic consortia of fungi (mycobionts) and photosynthesizers (photobionts), are a paradigmatic example. However, molecular analysis suggests that lichenized fungi did not appear before land plants, and the evolutionary trajectory of fungal–algal interactions before modern lichens remains hitherto enigmatic. Here, we conduct a detailed reinvestigation of the lichen-like microfossils from the early Ediacaran (approx. 600 Ma) Weng’an biota in South China by combining light and confocal laser scanning microscopy with Raman spectroscopy. The fossils are systematically described as Wenganomyces primitivus gen. et sp. nov., characterized by filamentous mycobionts and coccoidal photobionts. Raman spectroscopy of these symbionts and other taxa from the same horizon shows distinct chemospace distributions, indicating different biological precursors. 3D reconstruction reveals two major types of lichen-like interactions in Wenganomyces, i.e. encirclement and tangential contact; these newly identified symbiotic features are comparable with some modern fungal–algal associations. Comparison with extant and other fossil symbiotic associations indicates an early possession of symbiotic ability in fungi, and underscores a developmental spectrum with increasing symbiotic complexity predating the rise of modern lichens, which might have paved the way for lichenization. Keywords: South China, early Ediacaran, Doushantuo Formation, fungal–algal association, symbiotic complexity.