The phylum Ascomycota is by far the largest group in the fungal kingdom. Ecologically important mutualistic associations such as mycorrhizae and lichens have evolved in this group, which are regarded as key innovations that supported the evolution of land plants. Only a few attempts have been made to date the origin of Ascomycota lineages by using molecular clock methods, which is primarily due to the lack of satisfactory fossil calibration data. For this reason we have evaluated all of the oldest available ascomycete fossils from amber (Albian to Miocene) and chert (Devonian and Maastrichtian). The fossils represent five major ascomycete classes (Coniocybomycetes, Dothideomycetes, Eurotiomycetes, Laboulbeniomycetes, and Lecanoromycetes). We have assembled a multi-gene data set (18SrDNA, 28SrDNA, RPB1 and RPB2) from a total of 145 taxa representing most groups of the Ascomycota and utilized fossil calibration points solely from within the ascomycetes to estimate divergence times of Ascomycota lineages with a Bayesian approach. Our results suggest an initial diversification of the Pezizomycotina in the Ordovician, followed by repeated splits of lineages throughout the Phanerozoic, and indicate that this continuous diversification was unaffected by mass extinctions. We suggest that the ecological diversity within each lineage ensured that at least some taxa of each group were able to survive global crises and rapidly recovered.

During our continuing screening for new bioactive metabolites from fungi we discovered recently hexacyclinol(1) as a novel, unusual, oligocyclic metabolite in cultures of the fungal strain Panus rudis HKI 0254. The strain was isolated from basidiospores of this fungus found on dead betula woods collected near Irkutsk (Sibiria, specimen herb. H, DORFELT, Sibiria 299). Panus rudis is of widespread occurrence throughout the world in many different ecotypes and has been reported to produce bioactive secondary metabolites1,2). The basidiomata of Panus rudis from the Sibirian source are growing singly or basal confluent to little tufts, excentric to central, stipitate, infundibuliform, with hazel-brown, strong tomentous pilei until 4.5cm in diameter; pilei and stipes with hairs until 2.5mm, shows in cultures a white to light-brownish mycelium, tomentous with clamped connections.For cultivations a small piece of a mature slant culture of the strain HKI 0254 grown on malt extract agar (malt extract 4%, yeast extract 0.4%, agar 1.5%, deionized water ad 1 liter, pH 6.0) was used to inoculate 1000ml Erlenmeyer bottles containing 250ml of the producing medium consisting of glucose 1%, sucrose 1%, corn starch 1%, yeast extract 0.8%, casein peptone 0.1%, soybean meal 0.5%, (NH4)2HPO4 0.05%, CaCO3 0.03%, (NH4)SO4 0.5%.The fermentation broth (15 liters) was extracted twice overnight by stirring with ethyl acetate (1:1). The combined extracts were dried and evaporated to dryness Table 1.Structure elucidation of 1 (Fig. 1a) was done using optical spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy spectroscopy (1H, 13C Table 2) displayed signals of four methyl (1.78ppm, 1.78ppm, 1.28ppm, 1.15ppm), one methoxyl (3.01ppm), twelve methine and

Amber is of great paleontological importance because it preserves a diverse array of organisms and associated remains from different habitats in and close to the amber-producing forests. Therefore, the discovery of amber inclusions is important not only for tracing the evolutionary history of lineages with otherwise poor fossil records, but also for elucidating the composition, diversity, and ecology of terrestrial paleoecosystems. Here, we report a unique find of African amber with inclusions, from the Cretaceous of Ethiopia. Ancient arthropods belonging to the ants, wasps, thrips, zorapterans, and spiders are the earliest African records of these ecologically important groups and constitute significant discoveries providing insight into the temporal and geographical origins of these lineages. Together with diverse microscopic inclusions, these findings reveal the interactions of plants, fungi and arthropods during an epoch of major change in terrestrial ecosystems, which was caused by the initial radiation of the angiosperms. Because of its age, paleogeographic location and the exceptional preservation of the inclusions, this fossil resin broadens our understanding of the ecology of Cretaceous woodlands.Arachnida | Ethiopia | Hexapoda | microorganisms | paleoecology

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Carnivorous fungi dating back to the age of the dinosaurs have been found fossilized in circa-100-million-year-old amber. The fossil fungi used hyphal rings as trapping devices and are preserved together with their prey, small nematodes. The excellent preservation in amber allowed comparison with extant groups: On the basis of the mode of ring formation and the dimorphic mode of life, the fossils cannot be assigned to any recent carnivorous fungus, providing evidence that different groups occupied this ecological niche in the Cretaceous and that trapping devices were developed independently multiple times in the course of Earth history.