404 / Cenozoic
Coprinites
Coprinites dominicana
Its pleated bell cap may have deliquesced like a modern inkcap.
View original image · 1600 × 1067- Time range
- About 20–15 million years ago
- Final stage
- Miocene
- Geographic range
- Caribbean tropical forest · Dominican Republic
01 / DEFINITION & ECOLOGY
What was Coprinites?
Coprinites (Coprinites dominicana) was an extinct organism known from About 20–15 million years ago, with a range in Caribbean tropical forest · Dominican Republic.
Life and ecology
It matured quickly on wet wood or litter and released spores from delicate gills.
02 / DISAPPEARANCE
Why did Coprinites disappear?
Miocene forest and fungal turnover is possible context; a single amber specimen cannot show why the species disappeared.
03 / EVIDENCE
How do scientists know about Coprinites?
Dominican amber preserves the pleated cap, gills and stem.
04 / SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Check the source record
Use the scientific name to compare taxonomy, occurrence records and the fossil record. Database coverage and classifications may differ.
05 / REVISION HISTORY
How has this record changed?
- Rewrote an extinction cause that presented environmental or faunal turnover as established; it is now given as context the record does not prove.
- Verified authoritative entity sources and added three responsive reconstruction sizes.
- Initial bilingual species record published.
06 / CORRECTIONS & ADDITIONS