Three new Miocene fungal palynomorphs from the Brassington Formation, Derbyshire, UK

Abstract

The Middle to Late Miocene Brassington Formation from the Peak District in Derbyshire, central UK, has yielded a diverse vegetation assemblage, but until now there have been no reports of fungal remains. Here we describe three new species of fossil fungal palynomorphs from the Kenslow Member of the Brassington Formation. The taxa have been assigned to the Chaetosphaeriaceae and Pyrenulales, respectively, and were most likely saprophytic members of the community. The extant living relatives of the new fossil fungi are commonly found on decaying wood, often submerged in freshwater. A saprobic ecology on submerged decaying wood is consistent with sedimentological evidence that shows the Kenslow Member was deposited in a lacustrine or wetland environment. This is the first reported occurrence of the genera Rhexoampullifera in the fossil record.

Cellular preservation and maceral development in lignite and wood from the Brassington Formation (Miocene), Derbyshire, UK

“…Additional study is needed to firmly assign the samples to either the Pinaceae or the Cupressaceae. Wood features confirm deposition in a subtropical wet climate, as previously suggested by Pound et al (2016Pound et al ( , 2019. Periodic drought conditions are suggested by the presence of charred wood in the Kenslow Member underlying the lignite, and by the lignite itself (Booth et al, 2016).…”

Phylogeny and taxonomy of Catenularia and similar fungi with catenate conidia

“… Catenularia elsikii was isolated from the material containing clay, charcoal and wood fragments present in the cracks of a large sample of fossil wood discovered in the United Kingdom ( Pound et al 2019 ). Thick-walled, dark brown conidia were the only structure that has been preserved in material dated to the Miocene.…”

“…The conidial length is comparable with those of C. longispora and C. elsikii , but the former species differs in conidia narrowly rounded-obconic, narrower at the apical end (16.8–24 μm) with only (2–)3 corners. Although the length of conidia of C. elsikii and C. macrospora overlap and the number of corners is comparable, conidia of C. elsikii are slightly shorter and narrower in their upper range (23–24.5 × 21–24 μm) and narrower at the truncate base (3–4 μm) ( Pound et al 2019 ).…”

“…They have a saprobic lifestyle and occur on decaying bark, wood or bamboo culms in terrestrial, less often freshwater habitats worldwide. Pound et al (2019) published Ch. elsikii , a fossil species similar to the Catenularia anamorph of Ch.…”

How to publish a new fungal species, or name, version 3.0

“…(Lendemer 2021 , 10.1639/0007-2745-124.1.090; Spribille et al 2020 , 10.1017/S0024282920000079; Diederich et al 2019 , 10.2478/pfs-2019-0021; Lücking et al 2017 , 10.1007/s13225-016-0374-9) New species of fossil fungi. (Pound et al 2019 , 10.1080/01916122.2018.1473300) New cryptic fungal species. (Kruse et al 2018 , 10.5598/imafungus.2018.09.01.05) New species based on taxon-specific characters.…”