Some 400 million years ago, long before dinosaurs or even trees had evolved, an enigmatic organism towered over the landscape like a prehistoric monolith. Advertisement AdvertisementFirst identified 160 years ago, the fossils — known as Prototaxites — measure up to 30 feet (around 9 meters) tall and have long defied easy classification. In the 19th century, scientists initially thought Prototaxites was the rotten trunk of a conifer. The new research focused on three Prototaxites fossils unearthed in the Rhynie chert, a prehistoric land ecosystem near Aberdeen, Scotland. Fungi fossils preserved in the chert contained compounds from the breakdown of chitin and glucan, key structural molecules in fungi.

Source: CNN February 06, 2026 07:42 UTC