NAME Palaeophthora mohgaonensis
AGE Late Cretaceous-Maastrichtian.   AGE span: 70.6...65.5 mya
K&J CLASSIFICATION (2000) Phycomycetes, Peronosporales.
FIGURE(S)
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FIGURE REFERENCE Singhai LC. 1978. Palaeophthora mohgaoensis Singhai - A fossil fungus from the Deccan Intertrappean beds of Mohgaonkalan, Chhindwara District, M. P., India; The Palaeobotanist, v. 25 (1976), p. 481-485.
SPECIES, AUTHORITY P. mohgaonensis Singhai 1978, p.483, pl. 1, figs. 1-5.
LOCATION Mohgaonkalan, Chhindwara District, Madhya pradesh, India.
ORIG DESCRIPTION* Mycelium intracellular, 2.5-5 µm broad, aseptate, branched; detached sporangia 12-25 µm long and 5-10 µm broad, sporangia in organic connection at the tip of the mycelium 7.6 µm in diameter, columella absent, spores present only in the detached sporangia; narrow elongated antheridia 14 x 5 µm; oogonium spherical 12 x 11 µm; oospore (zygospore) rounded, with rough and thick outer wall, 11 µm in diameter.
COMMENTS* The sporangia at the tip of the mycelium and the zygospores suggest reference to the order Mucorales. But the presence of a distinct oogonium with single ovum, a narrow tube-like antheridium, the sporangia and the thickened oospore (zygospore), and the intracellular mycelium, clearly show the characters of the order Peronosporales. These characters are also seen in the order Saprolegniales. But in Saprolegniales, the oogonium contains one to many eggs whereas in the Peronosporales there is generally only one ovum within the oogonium. The present fungus is therefore placed in the order Peronosporales and family Pythiaceae as it has asexual reproduction by sporangia containing spores and not by conidia. Palaeophthora mohgaonensis is differentiated from the living Phythium in the absence of a characteristic vesicle. It differs from the living Phytophthora in lacking the papillate sporangia present on the tips of branches of the sporangiophores. It differs from Prophythium carbonarium (Elias, 1966) from Upper Carboniferous in the presence of branched hyphae, distinct tube-like antheridia and rounded oogonia with a single ovum, and also in that the sexual organs are separated by septa from the vegetative hyphae. The present fossil fungus also differs from Peronosporites antiquarius Smith 1877 from the Carboniferous Period in the presence of a rounded oogonium possessing only one ovum, and tube-like antheridia.
PUBLICATION REFERENCE Singhai LC. 1978. Palaeophthora mohgaoensis Singhai - A fossil fungus from the Deccan Intertrappean beds of Mohgaonkalan, Chhindwara District, M. P., India; The Palaeobotanist, v. 25 (1976), p. 481-485.
K&J REMARKS
TYPE P. mohgaonensis Singhai 1978, p.483, pl. 1, figs. 1-5. (Holotype represented by three slides in author's collection, nos. 41, 64 and 80.)
ALL NAMES (Including synonyms) Palaeophthora mohgaonensis
SERIAL NUMBER 1227
PUBLIC COMMENTS
 *For source, see Publication Reference.