Is there an evolutionary relationship to land-based lichens?
Blacksburg, Va., May 12, 2005 Researchers from China and the United States have found evidence of lichen-like symbiosis in 600-million-year-old fossils from South China. The previous earliest evidence of lichen was 400 million years old, discovered in Scotland. The discovery also adds to the scarce fossil record of fungi and raises new questions about lichen evolution. Xunlai Yuan, a paleontologist with the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology; Shuhai Xiao, assistant professor of geosciences at Virginia Tech; and Thomas N. Taylor, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Kansas, report their finding in the May 13 issue of Science (“Lichen-Like Symbiosis 600 Million Years Ago”). Yuan, Xiao, and their collaborators have been exploring the Doushantuo Formation in South China for a decade and have co-authored numerous reports of fossil discoveries, including algae and animal embryos. Taylor, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, is a paleobotanis
