Occurrence of Mycorrhizal Associations
At around 400 million years old, the Rhynie chert contains the earliest fossil assemblage yielding plants preserved in sufficient detail to detect mycorrhizas - and they are indeed observed in the stems of Aglaophyton major.
Mycorrhizas are present in 92% of plant families studied (80% of species), with arbuscular mycorrhizas being the ancestral and predominant form, and indeed the most prevalent symbiotic association found in the plant kingdom. The structure of arbuscular mycorrhizas has been highly conserved since their first appearance in the fossil record, with both the development of ectomycorrhizas, and the loss of mycorrhizas, evolving convergently on multiple occasions.
Read more about this topic: Mycorrhiza
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