New fungal cephalothecoid-like fructifications from central European Neogene deposits.

Fragments of cephalothecoid fructifications (peridia) were encountered during palynological investigations of Neogene deposits in Mizerna-Nowa/Poland and Adendorf/Germany. Isolated plates of cephalothecoid ascoma in shape and cellular structure similar to the extant members of the family Cephalothecaceae are described as Cephalothecoidomyces neogenicus fossil gen. et sp. nov. while remnants of fungal sporocarps with cephalothecoid walls with indistinct lines of dehiscence, similar in structure to peridia with cephalothecoid morphology of extant representatives the family Chaetomiaceae (mainly genus Chaetomidium) are assigned to Adendorfia miocenica fossil gen. et sp. nov. We also propose a new interpretation of some previously described fossil fungal taxa that we consider to be remnants of cephalothecoid ascomata.

Mid-Cretaceous charred fossil flowers reveal direct observation of arthropod feeding strategies.

Although plant-arthropod relationships underpin the dramatic rise in diversity and ecological dominance of flowering plants and their associated arthropods, direct observations of such interactions in the fossil record are rare, as these ephemeral moments are difficult to preserve. Three-dimensionally preserved charred remains of Chloranthistemon flowers from the Late Albian to Early Cenomanian of Germany preserve scales of mosquitoes and an oribatid mite with mouthparts inserted into the pollen sac. Mosquitoes, which today are frequent nectar feeders, and the mite were feeding on pollen at the time wildfire consumed the flowers. These findings document directly arthropod feeding strategies and their role in decomposition.