Winfrenatia

Winfrenatia is the oldest known terrestrial lichen,[1] known from fossils preserved in the lower Devonian Rhynie chert.

Reconstruction of the transverse view of Winfrenatia.

It comprises a thallus, made of layered, aseptate hyphae, with a number of depressions on its top surface. Each depression contains a net of hyphae holding a sheathed cyanobacterium. The fungus appears to be related to the Zygomycetes, and the photosynthetic partner of photobiont resembles the coccoid cyanobacteria Gloeocapsa and Chroococcidiopsis. [1][2][3] There may be two separate algae, making the lichen a symbiosis of three organisms.[3]

References
  1. Taylor, T.N.; Hass, H.; Remy, W.; Kerp, H. (1995). "The oldest fossil lichen". Nature. 378 (6554): 244. Bibcode:1995Natur.378..244T. doi:10.1038/378244a0. S2CID 4353572.
  2. Taylor, T.N.; Hass, H.; Kerp, H. (1997). "A cyanolichen from the lower Devonian Rhynie chert". American Journal of Botany. 84 (7): 992–1004. doi:10.2307/2446290. ISSN 0002-9122. JSTOR 2446290. PMID 21708654.
  3. Karatygin, I.V.; Snigirevskaya, N.S.; Vikulin, S.V. (2009). "The most ancient terrestrial lichen Winfrenatia reticulata: A new find and new interpretation". Paleontological Journal. 43: 107–114. doi:10.1134/S0031030109010110. S2CID 85262818.


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