Further evidence for fungivory in the Lower Devonian (Lochkovian) of the Welsh Borderland, UK
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RESEARCH PAPER
Further evidence for fungivory in the Lower Devonian (Lochkovian) of the Welsh Borderland, UK Dianne Edwards1 · Lindsey Axe1 · Jennifer L. Morris1 · Lynne Boddy2 · Paul Selden3,4 Received: 20 March 2019 / Accepted: 4 November 2019 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract The recent demonstrations that widespread mid-Palaeozoic Prototaxites and other nematophytes had fungal affinities indicate that terrestrial fungi were important elements in carbon cycling in the Early Devonian. Here, we provide evidence for their participation in the recycling of nutrients by early terrestrial invertebrates. Evidence is in the form of coprolites, both those associated with nematophytes or containing their fragmentary remains. Cylindrical coprolites consistently associated with fungal mats are placed in a new ichnospecies, Bacillafaex myceliorum. Their contents are granular to amorphous, suggestive of complete digestion of the ingested hyphae, with the inference of possession of chitinases in the digestive tracts of the consumers. A further single example comprises a cluster of cylindrical bodies attached to the lower surface of a Nematothallus fragment. Here, homogenisation was less complete, with traces of hyphae remaining. Terrestrial animal fossils have not been found at the locality, but scorpions, pseudoscorpions, Opiliones, mites, centipedes (carnivores) and millipedes, and Collembola (detritivores) have been recorded from the slightly younger Rhynie cherts. Studies of fungivory in extant arthropods have concentrated on Collembola and, to a lesser extent, mites, but their faecal pellets are much smaller than the fossil examples. Millipedes, based on body size and faeces of extant forms, are considered more realistic producers, but little is known about fungal feeding in these animals. Regardless of the affinities of the producers, the diversity in morphology, sizes, aggregations, and composition of nematophyte-containing examples suggests that fungivory was an important component of carbon cycling in early terrestrial ecosystems. Keywords Coprolites · Fungivory · Nematophytes · Devonian · Nutrient cycling · Early ecosystems
Introduction As a consequence of the dearth of animal fossils, investigations of the colonisation of the land have traditionally been dominated by studies on the nature and affinities of the first Handling Editor: Mike Reich. * Dianne Edwards [email protected] * Jennifer L. Morris [email protected] 1
School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University, Main Building, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK
2
School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Sir Martin Evans Building, Museum Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
3
Department of Geology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA
4
Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK
vascular plants (tracheophytes). These possessed the anatomical and biochemical adaptations allowing survival in a drying environment. More recently, attention has focussed on dispersed spores (cryptospores) in Ordovician strata (Rubinstein et al. 20
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