Obří fosilie popsané v rodu Prototaxites přitahují pozornost vědců už více než 150 let. Během té doby byl Prototaxites řazen jako předek různých skupin žijících organismů. Spolu s tím se vyvíjí i představa, jak ve skutečnosti vypadal. Teprve nedávno publikovaná studie navrhuje interpretovat tyto organismy jako zástupce vyhynulé linie nepříbuzné žádné ze současných skupin eukaryot.

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Použitá literatura

BOYCE, C. Kevin, et al. Devonian landscape heterogeneity recorded by a giant fungus. Geology, 2007, 35.5: 399-402.

HILLIER, Robert D.; EDWARDS, Dianne; MORRISSEY, Lance B. Sedimentological evidence for rooting structures in the Early Devonian Anglo-Welsh Basin (UK), with speculation on their producers. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 2008, 270.3-4: 366-380.

HOBBIE, Erik A.; BOYCE, C. Kevin. Carbon sources for the Palaeozoic giant fungus Prototaxites inferred from modern analogues. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2010, 277.1691: 2149.

HONEGGER, Rosmarie, et al. Fertile Prototaxites taiti: a basal ascomycete with inoperculate, polysporous asci lacking croziers. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2017, 373.1739: 20170146.

HUEBER, Francis M. Rotted wood–alga–fungus: the history and life of Prototaxites Dawson 1859. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 2001, 116.1-2: 123-158.

JONKER, F. P. Prototaxites in the lower Devonian. Palaeontographica Abteilung B, 1979, 39-56.

LORON, Corentin C., et al. Prototaxites fossils are structurally and chemically distinct from extinct and extant Fungi. Science advances, 2026, 12.4: eaec6277.

NELSEN, Matthew P.; BOYCE, C. Kevin. What to do with Prototaxites? International Journal of Plant Sciences, 2022, 183.6: 556-565.

PEGLER, D. N. The polypores: with keys to world genera and British species. Bulletin of the British Mycological Society, 1973, 7.1: 3-43.

SCHMID, Rudolf. Septal pores in Prototaxites, an enigmatic Devonian plant. Science, 1976, 191.4224: 287-288.

SELOSSE, Marc-André. Prototaxites: a 400 MYR old giant fossil, a saprophytic holobasidiomycete, or a lichen?. Mycological Research, 2002, 106.6: 641-644.

VAJDA, Vivi, et al. Prototaxites reinterpreted as mega-rhizomorphs, facilitating nutrient transport in early terrestrial ecosystems. Canadian Journal of Microbiology, 2022, 69.1: 17-31.

Giant fossils described under the genus Prototaxites have attracted the attention of scientists for more than 150 years. During that time, Prototaxites has been classified as an ancestor of various extant groups. Alongside this, the perception of what it actually looked like has also evolved. A study published only recently proposes interpreting these organisms as representatives of an extinct lineage unrelated to any existing group of eukaryotes.