The oldest fossil myxogastroid slime mould.
A piece of Baltic amber (Tertiary, Eocene) contains a sporocarp of a slime mould which is assigned to the recent genus Arcyria and described as A. sulcata sp. nov. Apart from a fossil stemonitoid myxomycete, there are no further unambiguous fossil records of slime moulds and therefore the fossil gives new insights into the evolutionary history of the Myxomycetes.
Dörfelt
Heinrich
H
Institut für Okologie, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Dornburger Strasse 159, D-07743 Jena, Germany. heinrich.doerfelt@uni-jena.de
Schmidt
Alexander R
AR
Ullmann
Peter
P
Wunderlich
Jörg
J
D005075:Biological Evolution; D005580:Fossils; D009235:Myxomycetes / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013172:Spores, Fungal / Q000302:isolation & purification