Fungi on the Devonian thalloid plant Schuguria (Orestoviaceae)

Abstract

Schuguria, an alga-like thalloid form from the Middle Devonian (Givetian) of the Pavlovsk Quarry, Voronezh Region, European Russia is heavily infested with spore-bearing and conidial structures that occur in the cortex cavities forming pseudothecia and acervuli. The fungal remains are assigned to new teleomorph and anamorph morphotaxa Speirascoma schuguriae gen. et sp. nov. and Setacervula schuguriae gen. et sp. nov., respectively. They supposedly represent an archaic group of ascomycete with a relatively massive helical structure (ascogonium?) in the centrum of the fruiting body. Symbiotic relationships of the Ascophyllum- Mycosphaerella type is suggested for the cutinized thalloids and their associated fungi.