New findings have discovered the essential component responsible for a balanced ecosystem, fungi, proves its existence approximately 407 million years ago. The new species was found in microfossil samples from the Rhynie Chert, considered to be a crucial site for the preservation of the Early Devonian community of plants and animals, including bacteria and fungi.

Dr Christine Strullu-Derrien, a palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum London, and her colleagues have highlighted the vital role fungi play in well-functioning ecosystems. According to them, the broader impact of fungi on Earth systems is widely recognized.

The Rhynie Chert is located in Scotland where scientists identified Potteromyces asteroxylicola, a fungi species. The Potteromyces asteroxylicola is likely to reproduce from a structure called conidiophores and mysteriously enough, these fungus are found attacking the lycopsid plant Asteroxylon mackiei to which the plant responds by developing dome-shaped growths.

The fungus, Potteromyces asteroxylicola, possesses a set of characteristics that, in conjunction with the reaction tissues in plants, indicate its role as a plant pathogenic fungus. The research team suggests that Potteromyces asteroxylicola is probably connected to the fungus phylum Ascomycota in the subkingdom Dikarya.

Dr. Strullu-Derrien pointed out that while other fungal parasites have been discovered in Rhynie Chert previously, this marks the first instance of a fungus causing disease in a plant. This discovery adds a new dimension to our understanding of fungal interactions with plant life in ancient ecosystems.