Quatsinoporites
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Quatsinoporites'' 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 ...
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 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 agaricomycet
fungus A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...
in the Agaricomycetes family
Hymenochaetaceae The ''Hymenochaetaceae'' are a family (biology), family of fungi in the order Hymenochaetales. The family contains several species that are implicated in many diseases of broad-leaved and coniferous trees, causing heart rot, canker and root disea ...
. At present 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), ...
''Quatsinoporites cranhamii''. The genus is solely known from the
Barremian The Barremian is an age in the geologic timescale (or a chronostratigraphic stage) between 125.77 Ma (million years ago) and 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma (Historically, this stage was placed at 129.4 million to approximately 125 million years ago) It is a ...
aged, Apple Bay deposits of northwestern
Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest ...
. ''Quatsinoporites'' is one of only three known fossil fungus species found on Vancouver Island and the only to be described from the Apple Bay strata. The agaricomycete '' Appianoporites vancouverensis'' was described from an
Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...
fossil at the same time as ''Quatsinoporites '', while a third fungus, '' Margaretbarromyces dictyosporus'' was described three years later. __TOC__


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 ...
, a partial bracket fungus fruiting body, or "
conk The conk was a hairstyle popular among African-American men from the 1920s up to the early-to-mid 1960s. This hairstyle called for a man with naturally "kinky" hair to have it chemically straightened using a relaxer called congolene, an in ...
." The specimen, P13021 E, is currently residing in the paleobotanical collections housed by the
University of Alberta The University of Alberta (also known as U of A or UAlberta, ) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, t ...
,
Edmonton, Alberta Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...
, Canada. The specimen was collected in Apple Bay, near
Quatsino Sound Quatsino Sound is a complex of coastal inlets, bays and islands on northwestern Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the northernmost of the five sounds that pierce the west coast of Vancouver Island, the others bei ...
on the northwestern shore of
Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest ...
,
British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
, Canada. The partial conk was preserved in a calcareous nodule recovered from a
Greywacke Greywacke or graywacke ( ) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness (6–7 on Mohs scale), dark color, and Sorting (sediment), poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or sand-size Lith ...
sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
matrix equivalent in age to the Longarm Formation. The nodules formed in a shallow marine environment along with abundant plant material. It was first studied by a group of researchers consisting of Selena Smith, Randolph Currah and Ruth Stockey, all from the
University of Alberta The University of Alberta (also known as U of A or UAlberta, ) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, t ...
. Smith and colleagues published their 2004
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 the journal ''
Mycologia ''Mycologia'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes papers on all aspects of the fungi, including lichens. It first appeared as a bimonthly journal in January 1909, published by the New York Botanical Garden under the editorship of W ...
'' volume 96. The generic epithet ''Quatsinoporites'' coined from a combination of ''Quatsino'' in reference to the nearness of the type locality to Quatsino Sound and "porites" to reflect that it is a
polypore Polypores, also called bracket or shelf fungi, are a morphological group of basidiomycete-like gilled mushrooms and hydnoid fungi that form large fruiting bodies called conks, which are typically woody, circular, shelf- or bracket-shaped, ...
fungus. The specific epithet "''cranhamii''" chosen in honor of Gerald Cranham in recognition of his contribution of a number of Vancouver Island plant fossils to the University of Alberta for study. When first described ''Quatsinoporites cranhamii'' was the first fungus species to be described from Vancouver Island and the third from British Columbia. '' Cryptodidymosphaerites princetonensis'' and ''
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 ...
'' were the first fossil fungi to be described from British Columbia, known only from the
Early Eocene In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age (geology), age or lowest stage (stratigraphy), stratigraphic stage of the Eocene. It spans the time between , is preceded by the Thanetian Age (part of the Paleocene) and is followed by th ...
Allenby Formation The Allenby formation is a sedimentary rock formation in British Columbia which was deposited during the Ypresian stage of the Early Eocene. It consists of conglomerates, sandstones with interbedded shales and coal. The shales contain an ...
near Princeton, B.C. '' Appianoporites vancouverensis'', an
Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...
age agaricomycete, was described in the same paper from deposits along Appian Way on the eastern shore of Vancouver Island. Three years later the
ascomycete Ascomycota is a phylum of the kingdom Fungi that, together with the Basidiomycota, forms the subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the sac fungi or ascomycetes. It is the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species. The def ...
'' Margaretbarromyces dictyosporus'' was also described from the Appian Way site.


Description

The holotype of ''Quatsinoporites'' is a lone fragment of fruiting body by and deep, which was abraded by water transport before preservation in a calcareous nodule. The conk section has an average of three, 130 to 540
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 ...
diameter tubes per millimeter. The fungus is composed of monomitic hyphae. Due to the abraded nature of the specimen the
basidia A basidium (: basidia) is a microscopic spore-producing structure found on the hymenophore of reproductive bodies of basidiomycete fungi. The presence of basidia is one of the main characteristic features of the group. These bodies are also ...
and basidiospores are both unknown at this time. The specimen was studied by cutting the calcareous nodule into slices with a rock saw and using the cellulose acetate peel technique to create slides that were examined under stereo microscope. ''Quatsinoporites'' is placed in
Hymenochaetaceae The ''Hymenochaetaceae'' are a family (biology), family of fungi in the order Hymenochaetales. The family contains several species that are implicated in many diseases of broad-leaved and coniferous trees, causing heart rot, canker and root disea ...
based on the structure of the poroid hymenophore, the presence of setae and monomitic hyphal system lacking clamp connections. This placement is tentative due to limited characters available in the fossil the lack of diagnostic features such as the basidiospores.


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7269593 †Quatsinoporites †Quatsinoporites Prehistoric fungi Fossil taxa described in 2004 Flora of British Columbia Cretaceous fungi Monotypic Basidiomycota genera