Oldest fossil mushroom found, according to reports in physorg.com and The Seattle Times, 6 June 2007. Ron Buckley, a collector of amber has found a fossilised mushroom embedded in a specimen of amber collected from Burma. The amber is dated as 100 million years old. The mushroom was identified by George Poinar, a retired entomologist who discovered that the specimen contained “two parasites, one feeding on the mushroom and one feeding on its fellow parasite.” Poinar identified the mushrooms as being similar to pinwheel mushrooms that grow on the bark of modern trees. He commented, “They dotted the trees 100 million years ago, so they probably were tasty treats for dinosaurs to nibble on.” He also commented: “I was amazed enough with the mushroom, but then seeing the parasites was astonishing. No one has ever seen this three-tier association before. This shows how far back mushrooms, and the parasites that infect them – go.” Joseph Spatafora, an expert in fungi at Oregon State University, commented that the discovery is significant because mushrooms do not have shells or bones so their fossils are rare. He also commented: “the amber specimen can give us a lot of insight to what fungal diversity was at this time in the past.”
Editorial Comment: If you were looking for evidence that mushrooms have not evolved, then this find showing that “fungal diversity” for the last 100 million supposed years has been much the same as it is today, means you’ve got it. So let’s admit it’s not the evidence which contradicts Genesis – even though many theories do. (Ref. mycology, ecology)
Evidence News 15 August 2007