Giant, fungus-like organism may be a completely unknown branch of life
Giant, fungus-like organism may be a completely unknown branch of life
Researchers studied fossilized remains of Prototaxites taiti, a species of this organism. They found that its anatomy was fundamentally distinct from all known fungi. They suggest it may belong to a completely different kingdom of life, separate from fungi, plants, animals and protists. More research is needed to determine if they were fungi or a completely different type of life.
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i'm absolute floored by the idea of giant mushroom forests.
when i told my friend about this, their first thought was "mario?"
Published
2025
Summary
Researchers studied fossilized remains of Prototaxites taiti, a species of this organism. They found that its anatomy was fundamentally distinct from all known fungi. They suggest it may belong to a completely different kingdom of life, separate from fungi, plants, animals and protists. More research is needed to determine if they were fungi or a completely different type of life.
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