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(American Journal of Botany. 2008;95:1328-1334.) doi: 10.3732/ajb.0800143 © 2008 Botanical Society of America, Inc.

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Palaeoanellus dimorphus gen. et sp. nov. (Deuteromycotina): a Cretaceous predatory fungus¹

² Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Courant Research Centre Geobiology, Goldschmidtstrasse 3, 37077, Göttingen, Germany ³ Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Invalidenstrasse 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany ⁴ Martin-Luther-Universität Halle, Institut für Geobotanik und Botanischer Garten, Neuwerk 21, 06108 Halle/Saale, Germany ⁵ Paleontological Institute, University of Kansas, Lindley Hall, 1475 Jayhawk Blvd, Lawrence, Kansas 66045 USA

ABSTRACT

In habitats where nitrogen is the limiting factor, carnivorous fungi gain an advantage by preying on nematodes and other microorganisms. These fungi are abundant in modern terrestrial ecosystems, but they are not predestined for preservation as fossils. Conclusions on their evolutionary history are therefore mainly based on molecular studies that are generally limited to those taxa that have survived until today. Here we present a fossil dimorphic fungus that was found in Late Albian amber from southwestern France. This fungus possessed unicellular hyphal rings as trapping devices and formed blastospores from which a yeast stage developed. The fossil probably represents an anamorph of an ascomycete and is described as Palaeoanellus dimorphus gen. et sp. nov. Because predatory fungi with regular yeast stages are not known from modern ecosystems, the fungus is assumed to not be related to any Recent carnivorous fungus and to belong to an extinct lineage of carnivorous fungi. The inclusions represent the only record of fossil fungi that developed trapping devices, so far. The fungus lived c. 100 million years ago in a limnetic-terrestrial microhabitat, and it was a part of a highly diverse biocenosis at the forest floor of a Cretaceous coastal amber forest.

Key Words: amber • carnivorous fungi • Deuteromycotina • fossil fungi • nematophagous fungi • Palaeoanellus dimorphus • paleoecology • paleomycology

Received for publication 22 April 2008. Accepted for publication 8 August 2008.

FOOTNOTES

¹ The authors thank J. M. Hardesty (Lawrence) and K. Schmidt (Jena) for critical remarks on the manuscript and V. Girard (Rennes), S. Jancke (Berlin), D. Néraudeau (Rennes), and S. Struwe (Berlin) for advice. This work was supported by the German Research Foundation (grant to A.R.S.) and by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (grant to V.P.). This study is a contribution to the project AMBRACE (BLAN07-1-184190) of the French National Research Agency.

⁶ Author for correspondence (e-mail: alexander.schmidt{at}geo.uni-goettingen.de)

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