Compared to the mushroom fossils known, a 20-million-year older mushroom has been found embedded in a 100-million-year-old piece of amber, making it the oldest ever found.
What interests the Oregon scientists, besides the mushroom itself, are the two parasites found in the ancient mushroom! One of these parasites is found to have been feeding on the mushroom and the other on its fellow parasite.
George Poinar, a retired entomology professor in Corvallis said,
I was amazed enough with the mushroom. But then seeing the parasites was astonishing. No one has ever seen this three-tier association before.
This finding is important as ancient mushrooms lack bones or shells, helping very few of them to survive. This newly found ancient specimen is similar to pinwheel mushrooms that grow on the bark of modern trees.
Mushroom fossils being rare, this amber discovery proves significant for entomologists. Thus, the oldest and the rare find of the mushroom come as a bonus with the two parasites inside it.
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