Champignon conservé dans l'ambre depuis 100 Ma

13.06.2007

Published online: 11 June 2007; | doi:10.1038/news070611-1

Amber collectors hit on oldest mushroom find

100-million-year-old fungus brings hints of Cretaceous ecology.

Virginia Gewin

Mushroom hunting in amber brought this prize specimen.

Poinar G. & Buckley R. Mycological Research

OREGON An unusual fossil-hunting team has hit upon an unusual discovery: the oldest found mushroom fossil yet, encased in amber along with a striking example of a parasite feeding upon a parasite. Dated to 100 million years ago by the age of material surrounding the amber, the mushroom joins the exclusive company of just a handful of fossilized fleshy fungal bodies ever found.

The chance of finding such a specimen is tiny. But, George Poinar, an Oregon State University zoologist and president of The Amber Institute, in Corvallis, Oregon, and Ron Buckley, a registered nurse and amateur fossil hunter from Florence, Kentucky, were the lucky amber-obsessed duo to discover it.

http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070611/full/070611-1.html