Fungi are a vibrant natural kingdom that continues to intrigue us. We know that with them we can heal, feed and Until saving the bees from extinction. And also that some are poisonous – even deadly – while others open unknown floodgates of our psyche. But only in Mexico there are more than 100,000 types of fungiof which only 3,000 have been studied.
This means that we still don’t know much about fungi: those beings that Professor Gerry Wright calls “remarkable chemists”, since they produce molecules that cannot yet be reproduced in a laboratory.
However, we also know something else: that fungi were one of the first complex forms of life.
About 400 million years ago, the Earth was populated by giant mushrooms that were up to 9 meters tall. These prehistoric fungi, like those of today, also extracted nutrients from the soil, which favored the formation of soil. In this way they also provided essential minerals for land plants, which allowed them to expand and turn the planet green.
This was essential for evolution… but it is a finding about which very little is still known.
The first giant mushroom fossil, called Prototaxiteswas discovered in Canada in 1859 – a country where, by the way, there is a multicolored symphony of endemic fungi–. But back then, paleontologists couldn’t decipher the anatomy of the strange spine-shaped fossil. It was so, according to the University of Chicagothe mystery about what was the Prototaxites it remained in effect for 130 years, during which time the scientific community continued to debate whether the fossil was really a prehistoric fungus, a type of primordial tree, or algae.
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It was not until 2007 that one study concluded that the Prototaxites yes it was a prehistoric mushroom, since various studies on new fossils helped to conclude that this species lacked photosynthesis and, contrary to plants, absorbed its carbon from sources other than the atmosphere. However, although this organism was classified as part of the kingdom fungithe true fungus was only underground, in the form of filaments.
What good was the gigantic structure of the Prototaxites? That is one of the many mysteries that still needs to be clarified. Some hypotheses suggest that the Prototaxites it is a kind of hybrid of fungus and lichen; but what is certain is that these ancestors of fungi were essential in evolution, which shows that without the kingdom fungi we wouldn’t even exist.
Thus, this reminds us of something that we tend to forget: everything begins and ends with mushrooms. They are the primal cycle of life.
* Images: 1) Blender; 2) Edward Weston; 3) CC
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