Occurrence of foliicolous fungus Zygosporium Mont. (Zygosporiaceae) from the Mio-Pliocene of eastern Himalaya

Zygosporium Mont. (Zygosporiaceae, Xylariales, Sordariomycetes) is known to have saprophytic or parasitic relationship with various modern angiosperms. Fossil record of such an interaction is unknown till date. Here, we report in situ occurrence of asexual morphs of two fossil species of Zygosporium...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Review of palaeobotany and palynology 2023-02, Vol.309, p.104803, Article 104803
Main Authors: Bera, Meghma, Basak, Shreyasi, Khan, Mahasin Ali, Paruya, Dipak Kumar, Goswami, Bapi, Acharya, Krishnendu, Bera, Subir
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bhutan
deciduous forests
Eastern Himalaya
environmental factors
Epiphyllous fungi
Euphorbiaceae
Fossil record
fossils
fungi
Glochidion
Himalayan region
leaves
Lythraceae
Miocene epoch
morphs
paleobotany
palynology
Pliocene epoch
saprophytes
Siwalik sediments
species
Terminalia
Xylariales
Zygosporium
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Summary:Zygosporium Mont. (Zygosporiaceae, Xylariales, Sordariomycetes) is known to have saprophytic or parasitic relationship with various modern angiosperms. Fossil record of such an interaction is unknown till date. Here, we report in situ occurrence of asexual morphs of two fossil species of Zygosporium from the Neogene Siwalik sedimentary strata of eastern Himalaya for the first time. Z. palaeotuberculatum sp. nov. is found to be interacting with leaves cf. Woodfordia sp. Khan et al. (Lythraceae) and Glochidion palaeogamblei Khan and Bera (Euphorbiaceae) from the lower Siwalik strata of Darjeeling (middle Miocene to late Miocene) and middle Siwalik strata of Arunachal sub-Himalaya (Pliocene) respectively, whereas, Z. miochinensis sp. nov. is found on the leaf cuticle of Terminalia panandhroensis Lakhanpal and Guleria (Combretaceae) from the Formation II (Pliocene) strata of Bhutan. These fungal morphotypes possibly developed in a tropical evergreen to deciduous forest under warm, moist environmental condition in the eastern Himalaya during deposition. •First fossil record of Zygosporium.•New species Z. miochinensis,Z. palaeotuberculatum recorded from E.Himalayan Siwalik.•Taxa cf. Terminalia, Woodfordia, Glochidion are identified as hosts/substratum.•Occurrence indicates tropical warm humid condition during Neogene.
ISSN:0034-6667
1879-0615
DOI:10.1016/j.revpalbo.2022.104803