Archaeologists have found an ancient mushroom, literally miraculously preserved in the limestones of the Brazilian Crato formation, which dates back to 115 million years.
It has not yet been possible to find out exactly the taste and even the systematic belonging of the fungus - its fruit body was completely replaced by minerals, and the spores by which such samples are usually identified were not found in the breed. Yet paleontologists are almost certain that the dinosaur-era mushroom was a close relative of the famous hallucinogenic mushrooms, Psilocybe, widespread in Russia.
The oldest fungus to date, also the first fossil fungus originating from the collapsed supercontinent of Gondwana, was named Gondwanagaricites magnificus. Its generic name is derived from the name of the supercontinent and the Greek word agarikon, meaning the mushroom itself. The specific name, translated from Latin - magnificent - emphasizes the degree of preservation of the only specimen.
“Gondwanagaricites magnificus represents the oldest fossil record of lamellar fungi and is the only fossil fungus preserved by mineralization,” said Dr. Sam Heads of the University of Illinois. "The unique specimen extends the geological range of lamellar fungi by approximately 14-21 million years and confirms their presence in Gondwana during the Early Cretaceous."
According to him, the mushroom that grew in the Cretaceous time on land somehow ended up at the bottom of a warm salt-water lagoon, where it was quickly carried over by fine-grained carbonate sediment. At the same time, the soft tissues of the fungus were replaced by iron sulfide - pyrite, which over time gave way to goethite.
"Prior to this discovery, the oldest mushroom fossils were found in amber in Southeast Asia and date back to 99 million years ago," said study co-author Dr. Andrew Miller, also at the University of Illinois.
“They were immersed in sticky tree resin and preserved as amber inclusions,” Dr. Heads added. "This is a much more likely scenario for the conservation of the fungus, as resin dripping from the tree directly onto the forest floor can easily preserve such specimens."
The systematic identity of the oldest lamellar fungus in the world is still a mystery.
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“Although Gondwanagaricites is undoubtedly a lamellar fungus of the order Agaricales, it is currently impossible to establish its belonging to any particular family, since the presence of basidiospores was not detected during the CEM (comparative electron microscopy) study of the sample,” writes in his work, American paleontologists. - The general habit of Gondwanagaricites resembles fungi of the family Strophariaceae; small size, dense shape of the fruiting body, thick cap, supposed complete attachment of the plates to the stem and the obvious absence of a veil also speak in favor of placing it in this family. However, a number of other families of fungi have similar morphology, and they can be distinguished from each other only by detailed studies of spores. Since we were unable to observe the Gondwanagaricites spores,we refrain from assigning a new genus to a specific family."