399 / Paleozoic
Prototaxites
Prototaxites dawsonii
Meter-high columns towered over landscapes of otherwise low vegetation.
View original image · 1600 × 1067- Time range
- About 420–370 million years ago
- Final stage
- Late Devonian
- Geographic range
- Humid land and river margins · Widespread
01 / DEFINITION & ECOLOGY
What was Prototaxites?
Prototaxites (Prototaxites dawsonii) was an extinct organism known from About 420–370 million years ago, with a range in Humid land and river margins · Widespread.
Life and ecology
Most evidence interprets Prototaxites as a giant fungal organism, perhaps with symbiotic partners.
02 / DISAPPEARANCE
Why did Prototaxites disappear?
The rise of forests and changing terrestrial carbon cycles are proposed context for the end of this columnar form; a specific mechanism is not established.
03 / EVIDENCE
How do scientists know about Prototaxites?
Concentric tubes, isotopes and chemistry support fungal affinity, though its exact biology remains debated.
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