Live
- The Telangana Woman Sushma Thodety Shines in the UMB Pageant's ‘Mrs. India’ Competition
- Suspect arrested after firing shots near Israeli consulate in Istanbul
- IPL 2025: Pant, Iyer, Rahul, Buttler, Shami among most-priced as 571 players set for mega auction
- Delhi Mayor poll: Cross-voting shows AAP councillors’ frustration, says Congress leader Jitender Kochar
- NIA files fresh charges against Mizoram-based arms trafficker
- From appeasement to 'New India' pitch: Nadda credits PM Modi for changing style of politics
- Bihar liquor ban gave rise to unauthorised trade, means ‘big money’ for officials: Patna HC
- COP29 Presidency launches initiative to address climate change, humanitarian needs
- Bangladesh's October foreign reserves fall below 20 billion USD
- CM Vijayan's top aide Sasi takes legal route in fight with MLA Anvar
Scientists find earliest intact mushroom fossils
Researchers from China, New Zealand and the US have found four intact mushroom fossils, sources said on Friday.
Beijing: Researchers from China, New Zealand and the US have found four intact mushroom fossils, sources said on Friday.
The four, well preserved in Burmese amber (fossilised sap of extinct trees) for at least 99 million years, are the earliest complete mushroom fossils ever found, according to the sources with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The findings represent four species of mushroom. A stalk and a complete cap containing distinct gills are visible in most of the mushrooms, which are two to three mm long, Xinhua news agency reported.
The research team led by professor Huang Diying from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, reported the finding after researching more than 20,000 pieces of Burmese amber collected over 10 years.
The discovery highlights the palaeo-diversity of mushrooms, pushing back the presence of agaric mushrooms by at least 25 million years.
Mushrooms are common and morphologically diverse fungi. Their bodies are soft and ephemeral and therefore extremely rare in fossils.
