Margaretbarromyces facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Margaretbarromyces |
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Margaretbarromyces is an extinct genus of fungus. This means it no longer exists today. It is a monotypic genus, which means it only has one known species. That species is called Margaretbarromyces dictyosporus.
This ancient fungus is known only from fossils. These fossils were found in rocks from the Eocene period. The Eocene period was about 34 to 56 million years ago. The fossils were discovered in deposits on Vancouver Island, Canada. Margaretbarromyces is one of only a few fossil fungi found on Vancouver Island.
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Discovery and Naming
Finding an Ancient Fungus
The only known fossil of Margaretbarromyces is a complete fruiting body. A fruiting body is the part of a fungus that produces spores, like a mushroom. This special fossil is kept at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.
The fossil was found near the Campbell River. This area is on the eastern shore of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The fungus was preserved inside a calcareous nodule. This is a hard, round lump of rock made mostly of calcium carbonate. These nodules formed in a shallow ocean environment. They also contained many ancient plant remains.
Who Studied It?
A team of scientists first studied this fossil fungus. The team included Randal Mindell, Randolph Currah, and Ruth Stockey from the University of Alberta. Graham Beard from the Vancouver Island Paleontology Museum also helped.
They published their findings in 2007 in a science journal called Mycological Research. They named the genus Margaretbarromyces to honor Margaret Elizabeth Barr-Bigelow. She was a scientist who studied a group of fungi called loculoascomycetes. The word "myces" means fungus. The species name "dictyosporus" describes the special shape of its spores.
What Margaretbarromyces Looked Like
The fossil of Margaretbarromyces is very small. It is about 390 micrometers wide and 420 micrometers tall. A micrometer is one-millionth of a meter, so it's tiny! This fungus grew inside the bark of an unknown seed plant.
The fungus was made of many tiny, branching threads called hyphae. The inside of the fossil fruiting body is filled with calcite. This mineral helped preserve the fungus's important parts. Scientists could see several asci and many ascospores inside. Asci are tiny sacs that hold the ascospores. The ascospores are like seeds for the fungus.
How Scientists Studied the Fossil
To study this tiny fossil, scientists cut the calcareous nodule into very thin slices. They used a special rock saw. Then, they made slides using a technique called cellulose acetate peel. These slides were then looked at under a powerful microscope. This allowed them to see the tiny details of the fungus.
The way the asci were placed and the unique shape of the ascospores made Margaretbarromyces special. These features, along with how it grew inside plant tissue, helped scientists identify it. They believe it is most similar to fungi in the order Pleosporales. However, its exact family placement is still uncertain.
