Microbial life in the late Paleozoic: new discoveries from the Early Devonian and Carboniferous

Fungal spores from the Lower Devonian Rhynie Chert are known to harbor a wide variety of parasitic and saprotrophic microfungi. However, only a few of these intrusive organisms have been documented in detail. This paper describes a previously unknown microfungus contained in fungal spores from the Rhynie chert; it consists of tenuous branched filaments and terminal, globose, usually apophysate sporangia with a single discharge pore or papilla. This complement of features is similar to the rhizomycelial and zoosporangial morphology seen in certain extant polycentric chytrids, and thus the fossil is provisionally placed in the Chytridiomycota.