2002/01/01 by C.B. Foster · 3 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Plant Diversity and Evolution #Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils #Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Interactions
paper · doi:10.2113/0260035
openalex publication_date 2002/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
Abstract Geochemical analyses of specimens of Reduviasporonites suggests that it is most likely of algal, rather than fungal origin. As a probable alga, Reduviasporonites is unlikely to be integral to the process of mass extinction occurring at or near the Permian‐Triassic boundary, as suggested by Visscher and other workers because it cannot have acted as a saprophytic metaboliser of dead vegetation resulting from that event. Moreover, it ranges outside the postulated time of mass extinction by at least 10 million years. Optical and electron microscopy of topotype material confirms that Reduviasporonites Wilson 1962 is the senior synonym of Chordecystia Foster 1979, and Tympanicysta Balme 1980. Moreover the type species of the last two genera, assigned in 1999 to Reduviasporonites by Elsik as R. chalastus (Foster) and R. stoschianus (Balme), are conspecific. The type species, R. catenulatus Wilson 1962, differs from R. chalastus in that its constituent cells are significantly smaller, more rounded, and h...