Flora
Plants
Fungi
Newly named fungi
Mycological research
A study on the anatomy of specimens of Prototaxites from the Heider quarry in Germany and the Bordeaux quarry in Canada is published by Vajda et al. (2022), who interpret specimens of Prototaxites as fungi and as rhizomorphs. Yang et al. (2022) describe new fossil material of Daohugouthallus ciliiferus from the Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation (China), providing evidence that this macrolichen inhabited a gymnosperm branch, and name a new family Daohugouthallaceae placed within the class Lecanoromycetes.
"Algae"
Floral research
Sforna et al. (2022) report the discovery of bound nickel-tetrapyrrole moieties preserved within cells of a ~1-billion-years-old eukaryote Arctacellularia tetragonala from the BII Group of the Mbuji-Mayi Supergroup (Democratic Republic of the Congo), identify the tetrapyrrole moieties as chlorophyll derivatives, and interpret A. tetragonala as one of the earliest known multicellular algae. A study on the mode of preservation of macroalgae and associated filamentous microfossils from the Tonian Dolores Creek Formation (Yukon, Canada) is published by Maloney et al. (2022). Li et al. (2022) study the morphology and growth features of Gesinella, and interpret this organism as a likely eukaryotic macroalga and a benthic metaphyte. Retallack (2022) argues that Late Silurian and Early Devonian nematophytes would have towered over land plants from the same fossil plant assemblages, including vascular plant trees, that nematophytes were branched and formed closed canopies, that there were extensive networks of nutrient-gathering glomeromycotan mycorrhizae in Ordovician to Devonian paleosols, and that the environment with nematophytes as the tallest elements of terrestrial vegetation and soils riddled with mycorrhizae may have nurtured, sheltered and facilitated the evolution of early land plants.
Cnidarians
Newly named cnidarians
Cnidarian research
A study on the taphonomy and systematics of conulariid specimens from the Silurian (Telychian) Waukesha Lagerstätte (Wisconsin, United States) is published by Miller et al. (2022). Wang et al. (2022) describe phosphatized muscle fibers preserved in three dimensions in post-embryonic stages of olivooids from the Cambrian (Fortunian) Kuanchuanpu Formation (China) – representing the oldest occurrence of muscle tissue in cnidarians, and in animals in general, reported to date – and evaluate the implications of this finding and fossil evidence from ecdysozoans for the knowledge of the evolution of the muscle systems of early animals. Zhang et al. (2022) describe the first known soft tissues of Gangtoucunia aspera, and interpret this taxon as a total group medusozoan. A study on changes in the functional diversity of tabulate coral assemblages across the Devonian and early Carboniferous, and on their implications for the knowledge of the impact of extinction events from this time period on tabulate corals, is published by Bridge et al. (2022). A study on the interactions between conulariid specimens, and attached epibionts from the Silurian (Telychian) Waukesha Lagerstätte (Wisconsin, United States) is published by April et al. (2022).
Arthropods
Bryozoans
New named bryozoans
Bryozoan research
Fossils which might represent the oldest bryozoans with calcareous skeletons reported to date are described from the Cambrian Harkless Formation (Nevada, United States) by Pruss et al. (2022). A study on the impact of paleolatitude on the calcification of cryptostome and trepostome bryozoans through the Paleozoic is published by Reid, Wyse Jackson & Key (2022). A study on the diversity of bryozoans from the Ordovician (Tremadocian) Fenhsiang Formation (China) is published by Ma et al. (2022). A study on the diversification dynamics of cheilostome bryozoans since the Late Jurassic is published by Moharrek et al. (2022). A study on the phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary history of cheilostome bryozoans is published by Orr et al. (2022), who interpret their findings as indicating that named cheilostome genera and species are natural groupings, and that skeletal traits can be used to assign fossil or contemporary specimens to cheilostome species.