''Mycetophagites'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

fungal

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of mycoparasitic in the order

Hypocreales The Hypocreales are an order of fungi within the class Sordariomycetes. In 2008, it was estimated that it contained some 237 genera, and 2647 species in seven families. Since then, a considerable number of further taxa have been identified, in ...

. A

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

genus, it contains the single

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

''Mycetophagites atrebora''. The genus is solely known from the

Lower Cretaceous Lower may refer to: * ''Lower'' (album), 2025 album by Benjamin Booker * Lower (surname) * Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) * Lower Wick Gloucestershire, England See also * Nizhny {{Disambiguation ...

, Upper Albian stage (about 100 Ma),

Burmese amber Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. Th ...

deposits in

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

. ''Mycetophagites'' is one of only two known instances of hyperfungal species known in the fossil record, and is the oldest to be described.

History and classification

The genus is known only from the single

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

, number "''AB-368''",

hypha A hypha (; ) is a long, branching, filamentous structure of a fungus, oomycete, or actinobacterium. In most fungi, hyphae are the main mode of vegetative growth, and are collectively called a mycelium. Structure A hypha consists of one o ...

e parasitizing a single partial

fruiting body The sporocarp (also known as fruiting body, fruit body or fruitbody) of fungi is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruitbody is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life cyc ...

specimen. When described the

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom. The standard for the n ...

is part of in the private collection of Ron Buckley of

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USA The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

. The collection has been sold and is now owned by Deniz Erin of

Istanbul, Turkey Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With a population over , it is home to 18% of the population of Turkey. Istanbul is among the largest cities in Europe and in th ...

.Fossil page of Ron Buckley
accessed on 7 December 2010 ''AB-368'' was collected from one of the amber mines in the

Hukawng Valley The Hukawng Valley (; also spelt Hukaung Valley) is an isolated valley in Myanmar, roughly in area. It is located in Tanaing Township in the Myitkyina District of Kachin State in the northernmost part of the country. It has the Hukaung Valley ...

area southwest of Maingkhwan, Kachin Region, Northern

. It was first studied by a pair of researchers led by George Poinar from

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...

who worked with

Ron Buckley Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald. Ron or RON may also refer to: Arts and media * Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character * Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character *Ron Douglas, the protagonist in '' Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe ...

. Poinar and Buckley published their 2007

type description A species description is a formal scientific description of a newly encountered species, typically articulated through a scientific publication. Its purpose is to provide a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differ ...

in ''

Mycological Research ''Fungal Biology'' is a scientific journal that publishes peer-reviewed papers on all aspects of basic and applied research of the fungi, including lichens, yeasts, oomycetes, and slime moulds. A publication of the British Mycological Society, ...

'', journal of The British Mycological Society. The genus has been assigned the

MycoBank MycoBank is an online database, documenting new mycological names and combinations, eventually combined with descriptions and illustrations. It is run by the Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute in Utrecht. Each novelty, after being screene ...

number ''MB510323'', with the species being assigned number ''MB510324''. The generic epithet ''Mycetophagites'' is

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

in derivation and is a combination of the words ' meaning "fungus" and ' which means "to eat" referencing the mycoparasitic nature of the species. When published, ''Mycetophagites atrebora'' was the first known instance of hyperparasitism on

mycoparasitism A mycoparasite is an organism with the ability to parasitize fungi. Mycoparasites might be biotrophic or necrotrophic, depending on the type of interaction with their host. Types of mycoparasitic organisms Myco-heterotrophy Various plants may ...

to be described in the fossil record, and the oldest. The fossil shows that this type of fungal parasitic relationship had been established by the Albian, 100 million years ago. An earlier instance of mycoparasitism is known from the extinct species ''

Palaeoserenomyces allenbyensis ''Paleoserenomyces'' is an extinct monotypic genus of Pleosporales, pleosporale fungus of uncertain family placement. When described it contained the single species ''Paleoserenomyces allenbyensis''. The genus is solely known from the Early Eocene ...

'' and ''

Cryptodidymosphaerites princetonensis ''Cryptodidymosphaerites'' is an extinct monotypic genus of pleosporale fungus of uncertain family placement. When described it contained the single species ''Cryptodidymosphaerites princetonensis''. The genus is solely known from the Early Eoc ...

'' described in 1998 from

chert Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a prec ...

s found in

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Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Description

The holotype of ''Mycetophagites'' consists of

mycelium Mycelium (: mycelia) is a root-like structure of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. Its normal form is that of branched, slender, entangled, anastomosing, hyaline threads. Fungal colonies composed of mycelium are fo ...

in a lone, partly decomposed fruiting body without any associated structures. The fungi are preserved in a rectangular piece of yellow amber approximately by by . The pileus is in diameter and possess a convex shape with the flesh a bluish gray color and hairy. The mycelium is composed of thick, septate, hyphae 4–6

μm The micrometre (Commonwealth English as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American English), also commonly known by the non-SI term micron, is a unit of length in the International System ...

in diameter. The hyphae sport septate dark conidiophores that are simple or sparsely branched. Each of the conidiophores are born singly or as sparse clusters and are upright or almost upright. The 8–10 μm long

conidia A conidium ( ; : conidia), sometimes termed an asexual chlamydospore or chlamydoconidium (: chlamydoconidia), is an asexual, non- motile spore of a fungus. The word ''conidium'' comes from the Ancient Greek word for dust, ('). They are also ...

on the conidiophores are oriented in short chains or singally on the ends of conidiophores. The conidia are generally simple and ovoid. ''Mycetophagites'' presents the oldest evidence of fungal parasitism by other fungi in the fossil record. The fossil displays a complex interrelationship between three different fungal genera. The preserved '' Palaeoagaracites antiquus'' cap is host to both the mycoparasitic fungus and a hypermycoparasitic fungus. The surface of the gilled fungus ''Palaeoagaracites'' specimen hosts the ''Mycetophagites atrebora''

mycelia Mycelium (: mycelia) is a root-like structure of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. Its normal form is that of branched, slender, entangled, anastomosing, hyaline threads. Fungal colonies composed of mycelium are fo ...

. The mycelia of ''Mycetophagites'' are found across the surface of the ''P. antiquus'' pileus, and the

e penetrate into the ''P. antiquus'' tissues themselves forming necrotic areas. ''Mycetophagites'' is in turn host to a hypermycoparasitic necrotrophic fungus species '' Entropezites patricii''. Hyphae of ''Entropezites'' are preserved penetrating the ''Mycetophagites'' hyphae forming areas of decomposing tissues. ''Entropezites'' also displays a range of growth stages for probable

zygospore A zygospore is a diploid reproductive stage in the life cycle of many fungi and protists. Zygospores are created by the nuclear fusion of haploid cells. In fungi, zygospores are formed in zygosporangia after the fusion of specialized budding stru ...

s. The combined distinguishable characters of ''Mycetophagites'' were not enough for Poinar and Buckley to place the genus further than Hypocreales ''

incertae sedis or is a term used for a taxonomy (biology), taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertainty ...

''. Where the hyphae of ''Mycetophagites'' penetrate into the ''Palaeoagaracites''

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

, distinct areas of

cell lysis Lysis ( ; from Greek 'loosening') is the breaking down of the membrane of a cell, often by viral, enzymic, or osmotic (that is, "lytic" ) mechanisms that compromise its integrity. A fluid containing the contents of lysed cells is called a ' ...

appear to be present. The

necrotrophic A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one of the traditi ...

nature of the interaction is similar to the modern genus '' Sepedonium''. However the details of the condia and mycelium are distinct from those found in '' Sepedonium''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6946929, from2=Q20679135 †Palaeoagaracites †Palaeoagaracites Parasitic fungi Prehistoric fungi Fossil taxa described in 2007 Cretaceous fungi Natural history of Myanmar Burmese amber Fossils of Myanmar Taxa named by George Poinar Jr.