Mycoparasitism in Dubiocarpon, a fungal sporocarp from the Carboniferous

Evidence of mycoparasitism occurs in a specimen of the fungal sporocarp morphotype Dubiocarpon from the Lower Pennsylvanian of Great Britain. The parasitic fungi are represented by spherical structures, as well as hyphae forming appressorium-like swellings at the contact region with host walls. This discovery supports the suggestion that many of the small spheres present in other Carboniferous sporocarps may in fact represent stages of mycoparasites, which further substantiates the hypothesis that fossil sporocarps are the reproductive structures of zygomycotan fungi.