First fungus among us: Billion-year-old fungi found in Arctic

Nature
Published May 22, 2019 | 13:00 EDT (News release from Nature Research Press)
Researchers identified fossil fungi dating from 900 to 1,000 million years ago in Arctic Canada. The findings provide evidence that fungi evolved 500 to 600 million years earlier than previously thought, pushing back the origins of the group of animals that includes animals and fungi. The fossils include the earliest presence of chitin – a fibrous substance that forms fungal cell walls – in the geological record.

Canadian co-author: Robert Rainbird, Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa – rob.rainbird@canada.ca