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       Wondrous Fungus: Fossils are Oldest of Any Land-dwelling Organism

   by Reuters

   At first glance, they do not look like much: tiny fragments of a
   primordial fungus shorter than a single hair's width. But these fungal
   remnants possess the unique distinction of being the oldest-known
   fossils of any land-dwelling organism on Earth.

   A study published Wednesday described microfossils of a subterranean
   fungus called Tortotubus that was an early landlubber at a time when
   life was largely confined to the seas, including samples from Libya and
   Chad that were 440 million to 445 million years old.

   The fossils represented the root-like filaments that fungi use to
   extract nutrients from soil. Tortotubus possessed a cordlike structure
   similar to some modern fungi. It was unclear whether it produced
   mushrooms.

   Tortotubus helped set the stage for complex land plants and later
   animals by triggering the process of rot and soil formation.

   ''"By building up deeper, richer, more stable soils, Tortotubus would
   have paved the way for larger, more complex green plants to quite
   literally take root, in turn providing a food source for animals and
   allowing the escalation of terrestrial ecosystems," said paleontologist
   Martin Smith of Britain's Durham University, who conducted the research
   while at the University of Cambridge.

   Humble beginnings

   These fossils, also discovered in other places including Sweden,
   Scotland and New York state, reflect the humble beginnings of life on
   the land.

   While the primeval oceans were teeming with life including jawless
   fish, arthropods, squid relatives, jellyfish and more, the land was
   barren and void.

   To survive on land, organisms had to be able to tolerate desiccation,
   ultraviolet light exposure and limited nutrients.

   Tortotubus may not have been the very first land pioneer, but no
   fossils have been found of earlier terrestrial organisms.

   "By the time Tortotubus went extinct, the first trees and forests had
   come into existence," Smith said. "This humble subterranean fungus
   steadfastly performed its rotting and recycling service for some 70
   million years, as life on land transformed from simple crusty green
   films to a rich ecosystem that wouldn't look out of place in a tropical
   greenhouse today."

   Smith studied fossil filaments so small that thousands would fit on the
   head of a pin. The filaments would have gone through the ground in
   search of food in the form of dead organic matter.

   The original, non-fragmented organism could have been a fungal network
   measuring yards (meters) across, Smith said.

   The research was published in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean
   Society.
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   lling-organism/3217524.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/fungus-fossils-oldest-of-any-land-dwelling-organism/3217524.html