#prototaxites — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #prototaxites, aggregated by home.social.
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This incredible planet churning out so many forms of life while the rest of the Solar System lies almost dead and inert...
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This incredible planet churning out so many forms of life while the rest of the Solar System lies almost dead and inert...
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I promise you I'm very normal about #prototaxites and am not obsessed with it at all.
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I promise you I'm very normal about #prototaxites and am not obsessed with it at all.
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This feels like the lost cousin of #prototaxites it feels other worldly... but then the birds make it feel more of our time.
I love the colors and the jewel tone surface of the larger parasol those highlights are wonderful.
This makes me think of a the calm you feel when a toothache at last stops.
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This feels like the lost cousin of #prototaxites it feels other worldly... but then the birds make it feel more of our time.
I love the colors and the jewel tone surface of the larger parasol those highlights are wonderful.
This makes me think of a the calm you feel when a toothache at last stops.
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#52wochenfotochallenge " #Blumen / #Pflanzen " & #FotoVorschlag " #Grün - keine #Pflanze "
Mit dem obskursten #Fossil meiner #Sammlung geht das!
#Prototaxites - ein Lebewesen voller #Rätsel
Man hielt es für die erste baumartige Pflanze 🌲, einen kolossalen #Pilz 🍄🟫 oder eine 9-Meter #Flechte 🪸
Vermutlich war es eine eigene Gruppe von Eukaryoten 🦠, die im Devon ohne heutiges Gegenstück ausstarb.
#Versteinert ist hier auch das Urmoos Cooksonia.
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#52wochenfotochallenge " #Blumen / #Pflanzen " & #FotoVorschlag " #Grün - keine #Pflanze "
Mit dem obskursten #Fossil meiner #Sammlung geht das!
#Prototaxites - ein Lebewesen voller #Rätsel
Man hielt es für die erste baumartige Pflanze 🌲, einen kolossalen #Pilz 🍄🟫 oder eine 9-Meter #Flechte 🪸
Vermutlich war es eine eigene Gruppe von Eukaryoten 🦠, die im Devon ohne heutiges Gegenstück ausstarb.
#Versteinert ist hier auch das Urmoos Cooksonia.
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'Hello and welcome! My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about prototaxites - the first complex life on Earth that went extinct
0:00 Prototaxites - strange ancient organisms
1:30 Why this is important, Age of Fishes explained
2:50 Original discovery and assumptions: trees or mushrooms?
5:25 2025 discovery challenged previous theories
8:15 New kingdom of life?
9:40 Then they went extinct
10:20 Conclusions' -
'Hello and welcome! My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about prototaxites - the first complex life on Earth that went extinct
0:00 Prototaxites - strange ancient organisms
1:30 Why this is important, Age of Fishes explained
2:50 Original discovery and assumptions: trees or mushrooms?
5:25 2025 discovery challenged previous theories
8:15 New kingdom of life?
9:40 Then they went extinct
10:20 Conclusions' -
Mysteriöse Urzeitgiganten könnten völlig neue Lebensform sein – Gescheitertes Experiment?
Die Kreatur Prototaxites lebte vor 430 Millionen Jahren und wurde bis zu acht Meter hoch. Wo im Stammbaum sie zu Hause war, ist bis heute ein paläontologisches Rätsel. Von Thomas Bergmayr
Während einer Zeit, lange bevor die Dinosaurier die Bühne betraten und als selbst die ersten baumhohen Schachtelhalme und Farne noch ferne Zukunftsmusik waren, ragten gigantische pflanzenähnliche Strukturen aus dem Boden empor. Diese geheimnisvollen Organismen, bekannt als Prototaxiten, dominierten vor etwa 430 Millionen Jahren die Landschaften des Silurs. Mit einer Höhe von bis zu acht Metern und einem Durchmesser von fast einem Meter waren sie die größten Lebewesen ihrer Epoche,
#Artikel #Biologie #DerStandard #dieGrößtenLebewesen #gigantischePflanzenähnlicheStrukturen #MysteriöseUrzeitgiganten #Natur #Prototaxites -
Schlimm - nicht mal den Namen kann ich schreiben: #Prototaxites zum Glück vor 400 Millionen Jahren ausgestorben (war aber weder Pilz noch Flechte, sondern eine eigenständige Lebensform).
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Schlimm - nicht mal den Namen kann ich schreiben: #Prototaxites zum Glück vor 400 Millionen Jahren ausgestorben (war aber weder Pilz noch Flechte, sondern eine eigenständige Lebensform).
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Let's go back to the best fossils and really look and think about what we are seeing and what it could mean with this organism.
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Let's go back to the best fossils and really look and think about what we are seeing and what it could mean with this organism.
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If #Prototaxites isn't a fungi, and it's not a plant: What on earth is it?
It would be very strange to have a living thing from a previously unknown branch of life AND it's this huge giant towering structure.
What if it was the first thing to crack the code for growing large? A runaway.
WHAT IF ITS ALIENS?
(someone calm me down please)OK what if it's Siphonophore-like? Or something lichen like? eg not just one organism?
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If #Prototaxites isn't a fungi, and it's not a plant: What on earth is it?
It would be very strange to have a living thing from a previously unknown branch of life AND it's this huge giant towering structure.
What if it was the first thing to crack the code for growing large? A runaway.
WHAT IF ITS ALIENS?
(someone calm me down please)OK what if it's Siphonophore-like? Or something lichen like? eg not just one organism?
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🍄🚫 400 million years ago, long before the first #dinosaurs, the tallest things on #Earth were 8-meter-tall towers called #Prototaxites.
For over 160 years, scientists argued whether they were giant #fungi or ancient #trees, but new #research from the University of #Edinburgh suggests they were actually part of an entirely unique branch of life that left no descendants.
#paleontology #biology #evolution #history #science #stem #discovery
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🍄🚫 400 million years ago, long before the first #dinosaurs, the tallest things on #Earth were 8-meter-tall towers called #Prototaxites.
For over 160 years, scientists argued whether they were giant #fungi or ancient #trees, but new #research from the University of #Edinburgh suggests they were actually part of an entirely unique branch of life that left no descendants.
#paleontology #biology #evolution #history #science #stem #discovery
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Scientists may have discovered a new extinct form of life https://phys.org/news/2026-01-scientists-extinct-life.html
Prototaxites fossils are structurally and chemically distinct from extinct and extant Fungi https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aec6277
"#Prototaxites was the 1st giant organism on the terrestrial surface, represented by #fossils of up to 8m from the #Devonian... fossils of P. taiti were chemically distinct from contemporaneous #Fungi, structurally distinct from all known Fungi. This casts doubt upon its fungal affinity"
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Prototaxites
"About 400 million years ago—long before the first giant dinosaurs—a massive and strange organism up to 8 meters long loomed over the Lilliputian plants, mushrooms, and bugs that carpeted the land"
Not a fungus. Not a lichen. Not a plant ...
An unknown branch of multicellular life that went extinct
https://www.science.org/content/article/bizarre-400-million-year-old-fossil-was-unknown-life-form
#fossils #Prototaxites #newFormOfLife #evolutionaryBiology #Edinburgh #Scotland #paleobiology #RhynieChert
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Prototaxites
"About 400 million years ago—long before the first giant dinosaurs—a massive and strange organism up to 8 meters long loomed over the Lilliputian plants, mushrooms, and bugs that carpeted the land"
Not a fungus. Not a lichen. Not a plant ...
An unknown branch of multicellular life that went extinct
https://www.science.org/content/article/bizarre-400-million-year-old-fossil-was-unknown-life-form
#fossils #Prototaxites #newFormOfLife #evolutionaryBiology #Edinburgh #Scotland #paleobiology #RhynieChert
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Bien sûr, il y a le grand évènement politique de cet été : la conférence des Nations unies sur l’océan, organisée à Nice du 9 au 13 juin, qui s’annonce comme un rendez-vous majeur pour tenter de régler les problèmes de surpêche, de pollution plastique, de protection de la haute mer et des grands fonds
#UNOC2025 #océan #science #kmamuta #Défense #armée #épigénétique #électricitéstatique #mars #NASA #Chine #oreilleabsolue #musculationfrance #musculationfemme #prototaxites
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Giant, #Ancient Life Form Doesn’t Fit Into Any Known Branch of Life
Scientists have debated where #Prototaxites belong in tree of life for over a century, but now a new study suggests it might represent a whole new branch.
Researchers analyzed #fossil of Prototaxites species called Prototaxites taiti and concluded that it belonged to now-extinct lineage of multicellular #terrestrial #eukaryotes (organisms, including all animals and plants, whose cells contain a nucleus).
https://gizmodo.com/giant-ancient-life-form-doesnt-fit-into-any-known-branch-of-life-2000582118 -
Giant, #Ancient Life Form Doesn’t Fit Into Any Known Branch of Life
Scientists have debated where #Prototaxites belong in tree of life for over a century, but now a new study suggests it might represent a whole new branch.
Researchers analyzed #fossil of Prototaxites species called Prototaxites taiti and concluded that it belonged to now-extinct lineage of multicellular #terrestrial #eukaryotes (organisms, including all animals and plants, whose cells contain a nucleus).
https://gizmodo.com/giant-ancient-life-form-doesnt-fit-into-any-known-branch-of-life-2000582118 -
Prototaxites represents the first giant organisms to live on the terrestrial surface, reaching sizes of 8 metres in the Early Devonian.
It was an extinct lineage of #multicellular terrestrial #eukaryotes.
Assignments to groups of multicellular algae or land plants have been repeatedly ruled out leaving two major alternatives: #Prototaxites was either a #fungus or a now entirely extinct lineage.
The latter hypothesis seems more plausible based on nrw evidence.
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Prototaxites represents the first giant organisms to live on the terrestrial surface, reaching sizes of 8 metres in the Early Devonian.
It was an extinct lineage of #multicellular terrestrial #eukaryotes.
Assignments to groups of multicellular algae or land plants have been repeatedly ruled out leaving two major alternatives: #Prototaxites was either a #fungus or a now entirely extinct lineage.
The latter hypothesis seems more plausible based on nrw evidence.
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Ever since their discovery more than 165 years ago, massive fossilized structures left by an organism known as Prototaxites approximately 400 years ago have proven impossible to categorize.
Researchers in the UK suggest in a report (yet to be peer reviewed) that Protaxites are a type of organism with no modern equivalent
https://www.sciencealert.com/mysterious-giants-may-be-a-whole-new-kind-of-life-that-no-longer-exists
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Ever since their discovery more than 165 years ago, massive fossilized structures left by an organism known as Prototaxites approximately 400 years ago have proven impossible to categorize.
Researchers in the UK suggest in a report (yet to be peer reviewed) that Protaxites are a type of organism with no modern equivalent
https://www.sciencealert.com/mysterious-giants-may-be-a-whole-new-kind-of-life-that-no-longer-exists
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Bizarre #fossil may have been an entirely new type of #life. Chemical analysis suggests the 400-million-year-old fossil #Prototaxites was neither plant, animal or fungus – hinting at a mysterious life form that went extinct long ago. http://archive.today/2025.03.21-191932/https://www.newscientist.com/article/2473272-bizarre-fossil-may-have-been-an-entirely-new-type-of-life/ #science #palaeobotany #paleobotany #biology #botany #mycology #taxonomy
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Bizarre #fossil may have been an entirely new type of #life. Chemical analysis suggests the 400-million-year-old fossil #Prototaxites was neither plant, animal or fungus – hinting at a mysterious life form that went extinct long ago. http://archive.today/2025.03.21-191932/https://www.newscientist.com/article/2473272-bizarre-fossil-may-have-been-an-entirely-new-type-of-life/ #science #palaeobotany #paleobotany #biology #botany #mycology #taxonomy
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I have heard of, and even deployed the notion that there were fewer evolutionary pressures in the deep past, and therefore things could exist then would never survive today. But, I also worry this kind of thinking can be a trap, especially when attempting to understand the ecological role of ubiquitous organisms. If something is common it will be exploited. We assume that if we attempted to grow #Prototaxites today it could not compete— but what if, instead it took over?
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I have heard of, and even deployed the notion that there were fewer evolutionary pressures in the deep past, and therefore things could exist then would never survive today. But, I also worry this kind of thinking can be a trap, especially when attempting to understand the ecological role of ubiquitous organisms. If something is common it will be exploited. We assume that if we attempted to grow #Prototaxites today it could not compete— but what if, instead it took over?
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I still do not understand why Prototaxites had to be three to nine meters tall. Nothing was tall back then. Plants are tall to avoid the shade of other plants. #Prototaxites (probably) didn't "need" sunlight.
Spore dispersal isn't a good reason to be tall IMO.
If Prototaxites were just the stalk of a "fruiting body" of a fungus the network of mycelium must have been massive. Some Prototaxites fossils show evidence of creatures/fungi colonizing them.
But we don't really know. Drives me nuts.
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I still do not understand why Prototaxites had to be three to nine meters tall. Nothing was tall back then. Plants are tall to avoid the shade of other plants. #Prototaxites (probably) didn't "need" sunlight.
Spore dispersal isn't a good reason to be tall IMO.
If Prototaxites were just the stalk of a "fruiting body" of a fungus the network of mycelium must have been massive. Some Prototaxites fossils show evidence of creatures/fungi colonizing them.
But we don't really know. Drives me nuts.
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I think most people have rejected the "rolled up rug" theory... I remember reading about it a year ago... amazing stuff. #Prototaxites
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I think most people have rejected the "rolled up rug" theory... I remember reading about it a year ago... amazing stuff. #Prototaxites
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Listen. I wasn't born yesterday. I know that fungi aren't plants: they don't have chloroplasts to photosynthesize. They don't use cellulose for their cell walls like plants.
But what *do* they use then? Chitin! Like a bug! This is what the exoskeletons of insects (such as ants) are made of!
The implications of this are marvelous. Consider #prototaxites the tree-size fungi of the Silurian. They stood tall using chitin. And to me? THAT says that giant ants may be more possible than we think!
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Listen. I wasn't born yesterday. I know that fungi aren't plants: they don't have chloroplasts to photosynthesize. They don't use cellulose for their cell walls like plants.
But what *do* they use then? Chitin! Like a bug! This is what the exoskeletons of insects (such as ants) are made of!
The implications of this are marvelous. Consider #prototaxites the tree-size fungi of the Silurian. They stood tall using chitin. And to me? THAT says that giant ants may be more possible than we think!
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#Prototaxites
Haushohe Pilze... 👀(den Text habe ich im Programmheft zu NIXON IN CHINA der Deutschen Oper Berlin gefunden... )
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Everyone knows that #Prototaxites was a giant #fungi of The Age of the Fish. Towering giants that soared before "tree" or even "small fern" was even a vague notion. And then? The bugs ate them and THEY grew giant. (and hence came the golden age, the Carboniferous when bugs were big) Right?
Maybe not. I just found out that there is a competing theory about these fossils. Maybe they weren't tree-like in form. Maybe they were more like ... rolled up rugs.
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Everyone knows that #Prototaxites was a giant #fungi of The Age of the Fish. Towering giants that soared before "tree" or even "small fern" was even a vague notion. And then? The bugs ate them and THEY grew giant. (and hence came the golden age, the Carboniferous when bugs were big) Right?
Maybe not. I just found out that there is a competing theory about these fossils. Maybe they weren't tree-like in form. Maybe they were more like ... rolled up rugs.
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Today's #mega...er... organisms...are prototaxites. These large, columnar fossils date to 240-350 million years, and stood 24 feet tall and 3 feet wide when they were alive. During this time period, both plants and animals on land were still quite small--meaning that #prototaxites formed the dominant feature of the land during the #Silurian and #Devonian periods.
But what exactly were these giant spires? First described in 1859, they were originally thought to be very early trees. However, their internal structure of tiny, criss-crossing tubes suggests that this is not correct. Chemical analysis also indicates that prototaxites gained their energy from diverse sources--ruling out the idea that they were plants.
This leads to the conclusion that prototaxites were giant, spire-like mushrooms--and the researchers who completed the analysis suggested that their height helped them to spread spores in an otherwise low-laying landscape.
An alternative explanation--perhaps attempting to account for the prototaxites' unusual height--suggests that they were a matted mixture of liverworts, fungus, and cyanobacteria that got rolled up by external forces and never stood upright. This has been disputed based on the fossils' anatomy and chemical makeup.
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Today's #mega...er... organisms...are prototaxites. These large, columnar fossils date to 240-350 million years, and stood 24 feet tall and 3 feet wide when they were alive. During this time period, both plants and animals on land were still quite small--meaning that #prototaxites formed the dominant feature of the land during the #Silurian and #Devonian periods.
But what exactly were these giant spires? First described in 1859, they were originally thought to be very early trees. However, their internal structure of tiny, criss-crossing tubes suggests that this is not correct. Chemical analysis also indicates that prototaxites gained their energy from diverse sources--ruling out the idea that they were plants.
This leads to the conclusion that prototaxites were giant, spire-like mushrooms--and the researchers who completed the analysis suggested that their height helped them to spread spores in an otherwise low-laying landscape.
An alternative explanation--perhaps attempting to account for the prototaxites' unusual height--suggests that they were a matted mixture of liverworts, fungus, and cyanobacteria that got rolled up by external forces and never stood upright. This has been disputed based on the fossils' anatomy and chemical makeup.
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When #mushrooms ruled the world …
So, here's the latest entry in
Corrado Nai's #VisibleFungi #SciComm project on all things #fungi in art, culture, and society:When Earth was crawling with critters and worms, not plants, but giant ancestors of #fungi dominated the world. With their 8-m height, #prototaxites were by far the tallest organisms on Earth, about 400 million years ago (illustration: yours truly).
Discover more in the related Wikipedia page: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungi_in_art
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When #mushrooms ruled the world …
So, here's the latest entry in
Corrado Nai's #VisibleFungi #SciComm project on all things #fungi in art, culture, and society:When Earth was crawling with critters and worms, not plants, but giant ancestors of #fungi dominated the world. With their 8-m height, #prototaxites were by far the tallest organisms on Earth, about 400 million years ago (illustration: yours truly).
Discover more in the related Wikipedia page: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungi_in_art
