These Oddball Organisms May Spawn a Brand New Branch of L...

What’s Happening

Alright so Learn about Prototaxites , a bizarre group of prehistoric organisms that fall within an unknown lineage of extinct life.

A towering, trunk-like organism that sprouted from the ground 400 million years ago has turned into quite the prehistoric mystery. These organisms — known name Prototaxites — look somewhat like living stalagmites, or cacti without any arms. (it feels like chaos)

They’ve long been thought of as fungi, making them an ancient relative of modern mushrooms.

The Details

But, it turns out that Prototaxites are something else entirely. A new study published in Science Advances has determined that Prototaxites are a unique form of life that doesn’t fit the description of either fungi or plants.

After examining a fossil from the 407-million-year-old Rhynie chert (a sedimentary deposit in Scotland), researchers found that the organisms were chemically and anatomically distinct from fungi. : Mold Is Feasting on Radiation in Chernobyl’s Abandoned Nuclear Plants First Fossil Evidence of Prototaxites Back when Prototaxites lived from the late Silurian to the Late Devonian (about 420 to 370 million years ago), they were the largest land-dwelling organisms before being overtaken by taller trees — some Prototaxites grew to be 8 meters (26 feet) tall.

Why This Matters

The first fossil of Prototaxites was collected in 1843, but since then, scientists have been uncertain about its position in the tree of life. While the organisms don’t fit in the same classification as algal groups or land plants, they do contain some features reminiscent of fungi. For example, they may have subsisted on dead or decaying organic matter (making them saprotrophs, just like most fungi).

The scientific community tends to find developments like this significant.

The Bottom Line

Prototaxites fossils also contain interwoven masses of tubes, another trait that led some scientists to believe that they were fungi . Prototaxites: Unfit to Be a Fungus The new study, but, has debunked the idea that Prototaxites were fungi after inspecting a fossil preserved in the Rhynie chert, which shed light on the structural and chemical properties of the organisms.

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