Oldest fossil of a land-dwelling organism
440-million-year-old fungus colonized land and helped move life onto land
Fossilized filaments of a fungus are the oldest traces of terrestrial life
440 million years ago, most life on Earth was found in the oceans. Terrestrial life was in its very early stages of trying to take hold. Now a fossil from that time has provided a better understanding of how that transition happened.
The tiny micro-fossil is the oldest of any land-dwelling organism ever found. It is a fungus called Tortotubus and it was studied by Dr. Martin Smith in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge in England.
Tortotubus helped stabilize that early soil by breaking down nutrients and adding nitrogen and oxygen. This paved the way for plants and trees, and ultimately created a habitat for future land animals.
Related Links
- Paper in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society
- University of Cambridge release
- CBC News story
- BBC News story
- Smithsonian Magazine story
- Dr. Smith previously on Quirks