A microfungal assemblage in Lepidodendron from the Upper Visean (Carboniferous) of central France

A diverse assemblage of microfungi and fungi-like microorganisms, composed of several types of hyphae, putative reproductive structures (sporangia), and a variety of spores, occurs in permineralized Lepidodendron xylem and periderm from the Upper Visean of central France. Some of the remains can be attributed to the Chytridiomycota and Peronosporomycetes (Oomycota) with some degree of confidence. We suggest that this assemblage represents a community of saprotrophic organisms that colonized the tissues post mortem and participated in the decay process. The permineralized Lepidodendron tissues from France offer a rare direct insight into the diversity of microfungi and fungi-like organisms in a Carboniferous terrestrial paleoecosystem.