Science Roundup: World's earliest fungus unearthed in Canada

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Old mold: Fossil of world's earliest fungus unearthed in Canada

Microfossils of a globular spore connected to a T-shaped filament excavated in an Arctic region of northwestern Canada represent the oldest-known fungus, a discovery that sheds light on the origins of an important branch in Earth's tree of life. Scientists said on Wednesday the multicellular fungus that they named Ourasphaira giraldae - the forerunner to an immensely diverse group that today includes the likes of mushrooms, yeasts and moulds - lived in an estuary environment about 900 million to 1 billion years ago. Until now, the oldest-known fungus fossil was one about 410 million years old from Scotland.