A study of the Prototaxites fossil suggests the ancient organism may have belonged to an extinct branch of life, challenging a long-standing theory that it was a giant fungus.

Key Takeaways

  • Researchers examined three fragments of the smaller species Prototaxites taiti.
  • The team found no convincing evidence that the organism was a fungus.
  • The proposed classification remains uncertain and could change with further research.

What the Prototaxites fossil revealed

Prototaxites lived around 400 million years ago, when early plants were beginning to spread across land. Its branchless body could grow up to eight metres tall, but its unusual structure has made it difficult to classify.

A team co-led by University of Edinburgh paleobotanist Alexander Hetherington examined the microscopic anatomy and chemical composition of three P. taiti fragments. The findings were published in Science.

The researchers found that the connections between its anatomical structures differed from those of known fungi. Its chemical composition also made a plant or algal origin very unlikely, while its cell walls argued against an animal origin.

A classification question spanning generations

Geologist John William Dawson examined fossils found near Gaspé Bay in Quebec in the 1850s and initially thought they were decaying trees. In 2001, paleontologist Francis Hueber argued that Prototaxites was probably a giant fungus. A 2017 study of P. taiti reported structures resembling those in some modern fungi.

The latest team instead proposes that P. taiti belonged to a previously undescribed group of eukaryotes, organisms whose cells contain a nucleus. If correct, the interpretation would place it on an extinct branch with no known modern equivalent. What happened to that group remains unknown.

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