Carnivorous Fungus Trapped in Amber (ca. 100,000,000 BC)

By: The Scribe on January, 2008

Inside this lump of ancient amber was a nematode worm, which was probably the prey of a carnivorous fungus found inside the amber alongside it.

Ah, for the good old days when meat-eating fungi ravaged the earth, eating tiny animals…

Actually, that’s a pretty frightening thought… which is why scientists were shocked – but also somewhat relieved – to find remnants of a carnivorous fungus trapped inside a piece of one hundred million-year-old amber.

The amber was found in a quarry in southwestern France, but the first noticeable thing about the amber was that there were a number of tiny worms trapped inside it. These worms are called ‘nematodes’, and the fungus actually trapped the worms inside of sticky loops before descending on them… and eating the worms.

Analysis of the meat-eating fungus shows that this ‘micropredator’ had developed this complex trapping and eating process about 145 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period. The fungus itself was made up of branching protrusions, also called ‘hyphae’, that had small rings around them that were coated with particles. These particles would have produced a sticky, sap-like resin that trapped their prey – in this case, the nematode worms.

Once the fungus trapped a worm inside its sticky loops, additional hyphae called ‘infestation hyphae’ would have pierced the worm and begun digesting its flesh.

The only problem with this piece of amber is that none of the worms were actually found inside the amber still trapped in the hyphae rings, leading some scientists to suggest that this trapping method is pure speculation. However, some modern trapping fungi have similar methods for capturing their prey, which is what led scientists to their conclusions.

While the carnivorous fungi cannot be assigned as relative to any of today’s modern meat-eating fungal species, it seems that trapping devices on fungus evolved independently on multiple occasions over the course of Earth’s history. Modern carnivorous fungi are known to use such trapping methods as adhesive knobs, projections, and constricting rings to catch their prey.

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