Department of Integrative Biology

A fossilised fungal colony is described and illustrated from Dominican amber dating back 15-45 Myr. Many hyphae in the coenocytic mycelium had produced terminal or intercalary protuberances resembling the sporangia of some extant zygomycetes and oomycetes. Other hyphae had produced cylindrical arthroconidia similar to those of Geotrichum and related extant yeasts Many fossilised diaspores had germinated prior to preservation. The fungus seems to have been a rapidly growing saprophyte, utilising fluid substrates, possibly plant exudate. The palaeoenvironment proposed for the mycelium, namely that of a moist epiphytic or epixylic microhabitat, supports earlier conclusions that the original Dominican amber forest possessed a tropical moist forest biome.