Fungi as Parasites: A Conspectus of the Fossil Record

Abstract

Fungal parasites are important drivers in ecosystem dynamics today that can have far-reaching effects on the performance and community structure of other organisms. Knowledge of the fossil record and evolution of fungal parasitism is therefore a key component of our understanding of the complexity and functioning of ancient ecosystems. However, the fossil record of fungi as parasites remains exceedingly incomplete for several reasons. This chapter provides selected fossil examples of (putative) fungal parasites in association with land plants, algae, other fungi, and animals, and elucidates the inherent problems that often render interpretation of even the most exquisite fungal fossils difficult. Of all the potential levels of fungal interaction, parasitism is perhaps the most difficult to demonstrate in the fossil record. Different lines of evidence obtained from both the host and fungus are required to safely discriminate parasitic fungi from saprotrophs and even mutualists when examined in fossils.

A new microsporidian parasite, Ordospora pajunii sp. nov (Ordosporidae), of Daphnia longispina highlights the value of genomic data for delineating species boundaries

“…magna (Angst, Ebert and Fields, manuscript in preparation). Unfortunately, it is not possible to estimate divergence times for microsporidian lineages, due to the lack of fossil records and the remarkably different evolutionary rates among lineages (Berbee & Taylor, 2010; Harper & Krings, 2021), but it is estimated that the split of the subgenera Daphnia and Ctenodaphnia that gave rise to D . longispina and D .…”

Microscale analysis of the fish Knightia eocaena taphonomy: implications for preservation by bacterial mats

“…This morphology is similar to the Fe (II)oxidization bacteria used in experimental studies (seePosth et al, 2014). the development of a spore(Riquelme et al, 1998;Cavagnaro et al 2001;Grim et al, 2005).Filamentous fungus are common components in freshwater lacustrine ecosystems(Wurzbacher et al, 2010;Lepère et al, 2019) and are important components in microbial mats(Gerdes et al, 1993;Krings and Harper, 2019;Carreira et al 2020), so a parasitic or communalistic fungus on the deceased sh cannot be ruled out(Gomez and Primm, 2021;Harper et al, 2021).The close association of bacteriomorphs with the iron-rich framboids argues for a biological origin, a hypothesis that has been around for over a century (e.g Schneiderhöhn, 1923;Love, 1957;. Love and Arnstutz, 1966;Folk, 2005).…”

Tyloses in fossil plants: New data from a Mississippian tree, with a review of previous records

“…Fungi frequently occur in the vicinity of anatomical alterations in the wood of present-day plants, and it was likely just the same in the past. However, such co-occurrences have rarely been documented and critically evaluated in the fossil record (Harper et al 2012;Feng et al 2013;Boura et al 2013;Shivanna et al 2017;Greppi et al 2018;Khan et al 2018;Shi et al 2020), in part because it is generally difficult to determine the nature of the interrelationship, if any, that existed between an anatomical alteration and a co-occurring fungus based on fossils, which do not permit experiments and long-term observations (Harper and Krings 2021). It is, therefore, a challenging task to establish whether tylosis formation in fossils was triggered by the presence of a microbial pathogen, such as a fungus, or developed due to any other cause that had nothing to do with the presence of the pathogen.…”