Margaretbarromyces
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Margaretbarromyces Temporal range: Eocene |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Dothideomycetes |
| Order: | Pleosporales |
| Family: | incertae sedis |
| Genus: |
†Margaretbarromyces Mindell, Stockey, Beard, & Currah, 2007 |
| Species: | †M. dictyosporus |
| Binomial name | |
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Margaretbarromyces dictyosporus Mindell, Stockey, Beard, & Currah, 2007 |
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Margaretbarromyces is an extinct monotypic genus of pleosporale fungus of uncertain family placement. At present it contains the single species Margaretbarromyces dictyosporus.
The genus is solely known from the Eocene aged, Appian Way deposits on Vancouver Island. Margaretbarromyces is one of only three known fossil fungus species found on Vancouver Island and the most recent to be described from the Appian Way strata. The agaricomycete Quatsinoporites cranhamii was described from a Cretaceous fossil and Appianoporites vancouverensis, from the same deposits as Margaretbarromyces were jointly described in a 2004 research paper.
The genus Margaretbarromyces is known only from the single holotype, a complete ascoma like fungus fruiting body. The specimen, AW 400 Htop 0-12, is currently residing in the paleobotanical collections housed by the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The specimen was collected south of the Campbell River on the eastern shore of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The fungus specimen was preserved in a calcareous nodule recovered from a silty mudstone matrix. The nodules formed in a shallow marine environment along with abundant plant material.
It was first studied by a group of researchers consisting of Randal Mindell, Randolph Currah and Ruth Stockey, from the University of Alberta and Graham Beard of the Vancouver Island Paleontology Museum, Qualicum Beach, British Columbia. Mindell and colleagues published their 2007 type description in the journal Mycological Research volume 111. The generic epithet Margaretbarromyces was coined from a recognition of Margaret Barr for here research on the loculoascomycete fungi and "myces" to reflect that it is a fungus. The specific epithet "dictyosporus" was coined to reflect the condition of the ascospores.
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