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The largest life-form on land 400 million years ago was one that scientists can’t explain
Analysis of chemical biomarkers and fossil structures reveals Prototaxites as a unique multicellular life form distinct from plants, fungi, or animals, researchers said.
- A 400 million years-old organism, based on three Prototaxites fossils from the Rhynie chert near Aberdeen, Scotland, may be a previously unknown multicellular life form, Corentin Loron said.
- In the 19th century, scientists misidentified Prototaxites as rotten conifers before work showed interwoven tubes, while recent studies proposed fungus or lichen-like symbiosis and sampled only one of 25 known Prototaxites species.
- Structural analysis found complex branching and dark spherical spots, with exceptional preservation at the Rhynie chert, and biomarker tests showed Prototaxites lacked chitin and glucan breakdown products.
- Loron cautioned the findings as too early to classify Prototaxites and the team is planning follow-up studies on tubular fossils, with key unknowns including anchoring, upright growth habit, and non-photosynthetic carbon use.
- The Rhynie site was an ancient hot-spring environment, and researchers suggest Prototaxites may have evolved independently from modern fungi, highlighting deep evolutionary divergence.
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About 400 million years ago, long before dinosaurs or even trees evolved, an enigmatic organism rose above the landscape as a prehistoric monolith.
New analysis suggests puzzling fossil may have been an unknown life-form
A bizarre fossil called Prototaxites, which was the largest life-form on land 400 million years ago, may have been a completely unknown form of multicellular life, according to a new study.
·Atlanta, United States
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