Am J Bot. 1997 Jul;84(7):1005.
The oldest generally accepted fossil of mushroom-forming fungi (homobasidiomycetes) is Phellinites digiustoi, from the Jurassic of Patagonia. The next-oldest homobasidiomycete fossil does not occur until about 70 million years later, in the mid-Cretaceous. The goal of this project was to reassess the identity of Phellinites and refine the minimum-age estimate for the origin of homobasidiomycetes. We examined the holotype of Phellinites digiustoi and a second collection from the type locality. Thin sections were prepared from both collections. Phellinites has a cellular structure, confirming that it is biological in origin, but there are no hyphae, spores, or other fungal structures. Rather, Phellinites appears to be the outer bark (rhytidome) of a conifer. Fossils of Araucariaceae are common in the region where Phellinites was found, and so it is plausible that Phellinites is the bark of an Araucaria-like tree. The minimum age of the mushroom-forming fungi, based on direct fossil evidence, is revised to the mid-Cretaceous.
蘑菇形成真菌（同担子菌）最古老的公认化石是来自巴塔哥尼亚侏罗纪的 Phellinites digiustoi。下一个古老的同担子菌化石直到大约 7000 万年后的白垩纪中期才出现。本项目的目标是重新评估 Phellinites 的身份，并细化同担子菌起源的最小年龄估计。我们检查了 Phellinites digiustoi 的模式标本和来自模式产地的第二个集合。从两个集合中制备了薄片。Phellinites 具有细胞结构，证实其起源于生物，但没有菌丝、孢子或其他真菌结构。相反，Phellinites 似乎是针叶树的外皮（rhytidome）。在发现 Phellinites 的地区，南洋杉科的化石很常见，因此，Phellinites 可能是类似于南洋杉的树木的树皮。基于直接化石证据，蘑菇形成真菌的最小年龄被修订为白垩纪中期。
