World's oldest fungus discovered in South Africa
Fungus-like organisms have been found fossilised in South African rocks dating back 2.4 billion years, pushing the oldest evidence of possible fungal life by at most 2 billion years. The fossils suggest it may have evolved underwater, scientists said. If not a fungus, the organism could be from an extinct branch of life that hasn't been described before, scientists added.
London, Apr 26 (PTI) Scientists have discovered what may be the worlds oldest fungus in South African rocks dating back 2.4 billion years. The fossils suggest that fungus may have evolved from under the deep sea rather than land. Drilled from rocks that were once beneath the seafloor, the fossils resemble living fungi and could push back the date for the oldest fungi by one to two billion years. If not a fungus, the organism could be from an extinct branch of life that has not been described before, scientists say. "The deep biosphere where the fossils were found represents a significant portion of the Earth, but we know very little about its biology and even less about its evolutionary history," said Stefan Bengtson of the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Sweden who led the research team. The fossils closely resemble those found in similar conditions on land. They are made up of jumbles of tangled threads some hundredths of a millimetre thick. There is a "clear possibility" that they are the worlds oldest fossil fungi - twice as old as generally accepted in the fossil record, Bengtson was quoted as saying by the BBC News. 