Glomalean fungi from the Ordovician

Fossilized fungal hyphae and spores from the Ordovician of Wisconsin (with an age of about 460 million years) strongly resemble modern arbuscular myco rrhizal fungi (Glomales, Zygomycetes), These fossils indicate that Glomales -like fungi were present at a time when the Land flora most likely only con sisted of plants; on,the bryophytic Level. Thus, these fungi may have playe d a crucial role in facilitating the colonization of Land by plants, and th e fossils support molecular estimates of fungal phylogeny that place the or igin of the major groups of terrestrial fungi (Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, a nd Glomales) around 600 million years ago.