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Oldest fossil basidiomycete clamp connections

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Mycoscience

Abstract

A rachis of the fossil filicalean fern Botryopteris antiqua containing abundant septate hyphae with clamp connections is preserved in a late Visean (Mississippian; ~330 Ma) chert from Esnost (Autun Basin) in central France. Largely unbranched tubular hyphae pass from cell to cell, but may sometimes produce a branch from a clamp connection. Other clamp-bearing hyphae occur clustered in individual cells or small groups of adjacent host cells. These hyphae may be tubular, catenulate with numerous hyphal swellings, or they may display a combination of both. The Visean hyphae with clamp connections predate Palaeancistrus martinii, the heretofore oldest direct fossil evidence of Basidiomycota, by some 25 Ma.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by funds from the National Science Foundation (EAR-0949947 to T.N.T. and M.K.) and the Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation (V-3.FLF-DEU/1064359 to M.K.). We extend our sincere appreciation to Jean Dejax, Dario De Franceschi, and Jean Broutin (Paris, France) for making the slide from the “collection Renault” available and for their continued support of our research program on fossil microorganisms. The paper greatly benefited from the constructive comments and suggestions of two anonymous reviewers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department für Geo- und Umweltwissenschaften, Paläontologie und Geobiologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, and Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie, Richard-Wagner-Straße 10, 80333, Munich, Germany

    Michael Krings & Nora Dotzler

  2. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Institute, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66045-7534, USA

    Michael Krings & Thomas N. Taylor

  3. AMAP, UMR 5120 CNRS, CIRAD TA A-51/PS2, Boulevard de la Lironde, 34398, Montpellier, France

    Jean Galtier

Authors
  1. Michael Krings
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  2. Nora Dotzler
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  3. Jean Galtier
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  4. Thomas N. Taylor
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Correspondence to Michael Krings.

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Krings, M., Dotzler, N., Galtier, J. et al. Oldest fossil basidiomycete clamp connections. Mycoscience 52, 18–23 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10267-010-0065-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10267-010-0065-4

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