NAME Endochaetophora
AGE    AGE span:  mya
K&J CLASSIFICATION (2000) Zygomycetes?, Endogonales?
FIGURE(S)
FIGURE REFERENCE
SPECIES, AUTHORITY Endochaetophora White & Taylor 1988, p. 1495.
LOCATION
ORIG DESCRIPTION* ORIGINAL DIAGNOSIS: Sporocarp with complex wall enclosing spherical cavity; wall composed of three multicellular layers, with numerous hyphal appendages arising from innermost wall component and extending through middle and outer layers of sporocarp. Monotypic.
COMMENTS* Studied in acetate peels of silicified peat. There is a close morphological correspondence between the sporocarp of Endochaetophora and the perithecia and pycnidia of many extant ascomycetes. There appear, however, to be some major differences. In the Ascomycotina the sporocarp wall of most advanced members of the group is constructed of an interwoven mycelium, with the individual cells becoming septate in multiple planes to produce a pseudoparenchyma. Additionally, in modern sporocarpic ascomycetes, the appendages typically arise exogenously and are often septate. The formation of internal tissue between wall layers of the sporocarp in Endochaetophora appears to be unknown in modern fungi and has not been reported from other fossil sporocarps. It is difficult to accurately position this Triassic fungus within the framework of a fungal classification based entirely on extant fungi, even at the level of subdivision. The modern representatives of the Ascomycotina have been suggested as being as old as the Cretaceous (Pirozynski 1976b). If this hypothesis is accurate, then fungi such as Endochaetophora and other Paleozoic fossils may represent the early ancestors that were subsequently replaced in the Mesozoic. This possibility suggests the importance that paleomycology may play in not only elucidating the diversity of fungi through geologic time, but also in increasing our understanding of the origin and evolution of major groups.
PUBLICATION REFERENCE White JF Jr, Taylor TN. 1988. Triassic fungus from Antarctica with possible ascomycetous affinities; American Journal of Botany, v. 75, p. 1495-1500.
K&J REMARKS White & Taylor (1989, Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol., 61, p. 341) reviewed and evaluated the sporocarp structure of Endochaetophora based on morphological and anatomical studies of three fossil specimens from silicified peat deposits of Triassic age from Antarctica. Structural features of sporocarps were evaluated and compared with those of Endochaetophora antarctica. Features exhibited by these fossils suggest that they may be related to E. antarctica. Increasingly, they said, evidence is accumulating that this type of fossil fungus is not related to the Ascomycotina, but rather to an independent group, of which the extant Endogonaceae may be the sparse descendents.
TYPE TYPE: Endochaetophora antarctica White & Taylor 1988, p. 1495, figs. 1-14.
ALL NAMES (Including synonyms) Endochaetophora;
SERIAL NUMBER 524
PUBLIC COMMENTS
 *For source, see Publication Reference.