biology

Gondwanagaricites

Gondwanagaricites is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Gondwanagaricites rather than just read about it. In short: Gondwanagaricites (meaning "Gondwanan mushroom fossil") is an extinct monotypic genus of gilled fungus in the order Agaricales from the Early Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil. It contains the single species G. magnificus, and it is the oldest known mushroom fossil known to date.

Key takeaways

Gondwanagaricites belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Gondwanagaricites to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Gondwanagaricites from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Gondwanagaricites (meaning "Gondwanan mushroom fossil") is an extinct monotypic genus of gilled fungus in the order Agaricales from the Early Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil. It contains the single species G. magnificus, and it is the oldest known mushroom fossil known to date. Gondwanagaricites extends the geological range of mushrooms by around 14 to 21 million years and confirms their presence in Gondwana during the Early Cretaceous.

Discovery and naming

The holotype, URM-88000, was discovered in the Nova Olinda Member of the Crato Formation, Nova Olinda, Brazil and the specimen was sent to the Illinois Natural History Survey Paleontological Collection before being repatriated to the URM Herbarium at the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco in Recife, Brazil. Gondwanagaricites magnificus was named and described by Heads et al. (2017a), but the PLOS One paper was later retracted because the paper did not meet the requirements of Articles 42.1, 35.1, and 43.3 under the International Code of Nomenclature for Algae, Fungi, and Plants, a MycoBank number for the genus was not given, and the illustration depicting the holotype was not specifically identified. As a result of this, Heads et al. (2017b) published the name instead within the Mycological Process journal.

Description The holotype slab is roughly 50 × 60 mm, the pileus was measured as 10 millimetres (0.39 in) long, and the stipe was measured to be 34 millimetres (1.3 in) long. The lamellae of Gondwanagaricites were 4.5 millimetres (0.18 in) wide and are broadly attached to a single apex.

References

Illustrations

Gondwanagaricites: Scanning electron micrographs of the gills of the holotype of G. magnificus — Scanning electron micrographs of the gills of the holotype of G. magnificus

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Gondwanagaricites

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Gondwanagaricites claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Gondwanagaricites before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Gondwanagaricites ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Gondwanagaricites

In research: Gondwanagaricites appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Gondwanagaricites in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Gondwanagaricites is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Crato Formation, Cretaceous fungi, Enigmatic Agaricales taxa, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Gondwanagaricites outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Gondwanagaricites in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Gondwanagaricites means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Gondwanagaricites out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gondwanagaricites in simple terms?

Why does Gondwanagaricites matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Gondwanagaricites?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Gondwanagaricites.