Winfrenatia
Encyclopedia
Winfrenatia is the oldest known terrestrial lichen
, known from the lower Devonian Rhynie Chert
.
It comprises comprises a thallus, made of layered, aseptate hyphae, with a number of depressions on its top surface. Each depression contains a net of hyphae holding a sheathed cyanobacterium. The fungus appears to be related to the Zygomycetes, and the photobiont resembles the coccoid Gloeocapsa and Chroococcidiopsis. There may be two separate algae, making the lichen a symbiosis of three organisms.
Lichen
Lichens are composite organisms consisting of a symbiotic organism composed of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner , usually either a green alga or cyanobacterium...
, known from the lower Devonian Rhynie Chert
Rhynie chert
The Rhynie chert is an Early Devonian sedimentary deposit exhibiting extraordinary fossil detail or completeness . It is exposed near the village of Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland; a second unit, the Windyfield chert, is located some 700 m away...
.
It comprises comprises a thallus, made of layered, aseptate hyphae, with a number of depressions on its top surface. Each depression contains a net of hyphae holding a sheathed cyanobacterium. The fungus appears to be related to the Zygomycetes, and the photobiont resembles the coccoid Gloeocapsa and Chroococcidiopsis. There may be two separate algae, making the lichen a symbiosis of three organisms.