Biosignatures & Paleobiology

Ancient Organism Verified as Fungus

By Keith Cowing
May 25, 2007

NAI scientists from the Carnegie Institution of Washington Team and their colleagues have a new paper in Geology outlining their process in resolving the mysterious identity of the Devonian fossil organism Prototaxities as a fungus. The team analyzed carbon isotopic ratios of the fossil relative to plants that lived in the same environment 400 million years ago. [Source: NAI Newsletter]

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