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Further evidence for fungivory in the Lower Devonian (Lochkovian) of the Welsh Borderland, UK

Edwards, Dianne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9786-4395, Axe, Lindsey, Morris, Jennifer L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7453-3841, Boddy, Lynne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1845-6738 and Selden, Paul 2020. Further evidence for fungivory in the Lower Devonian (Lochkovian) of the Welsh Borderland, UK. PalZ. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 94 , pp. 603-618. 10.1007/s12542-019-00503-9

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Abstract

The recent demonstrations that widespread mid-Palaeozoic Prototaxites and other nematophytes had fungal affinities indicate that terrestrial fungi were important elements in carbon cycling in the Early Devonian. Here, we provide evidence for their participation in the recycling of nutrients by early terrestrial invertebrates. Evidence is in the form of coprolites, both those associated with nematophytes or containing their fragmentary remains. Cylindrical coprolites consistently associated with fungal mats are placed in a new ichnospecies, Bacillafaex myceliorum. Their contents are granular to amorphous, suggestive of complete digestion of the ingested hyphae, with the inference of possession of chitinases in the digestive tracts of the consumers. A further single example comprises a cluster of cylindrical bodies attached to the lower surface of a Nematothallus fragment. Here, homogenisation was less complete, with traces of hyphae remaining. Terrestrial animal fossils have not been found at the locality, but scorpions, pseudoscorpions, Opiliones, mites, centipedes (carnivores) and millipedes, and Collembola (detritivores) have been recorded from the slightly younger Rhynie cherts. Studies of fungivory in extant arthropods have concentrated on Collembola and, to a lesser extent, mites, but their faecal pellets are much smaller than the fossil examples. Millipedes, based on body size and faeces of extant forms, are considered more realistic producers, but little is known about fungal feeding in these animals. Regardless of the affinities of the producers, the diversity in morphology, sizes, aggregations, and composition of nematophyte-containing examples suggests that fungivory was an important component of carbon cycling in early terrestrial ecosystems.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: Earth and Environmental Sciences
Biosciences
Publisher: Springer
ISSN: 0031-0220
Date of First Compliant Deposit: 13 December 2019
Date of Acceptance: 4 November 2019
Last Modified: 03 May 2023 19:50
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/127517

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