What are Archeocyathids?
Archaeocyathids (Greek: "Ancient Cup"), members of the Unattended Clade Archeocyath, are a group of ancient mushrooms that existed for a geologically short time, but had a huge impact during their possession. Archaeocyathids, which appeared in Lower Cambria, about 530 million years ago, disappeared only 10 million years later, about 520 million years ago. Archeocyathid fossil species are divided into two classes, six orders, 12 subordinates, 120 families and almost 300 genera.
Like other mushrooms, archaeocyathides were stationary filters that formed an important part of the sea fauna. However, Archeocyathids are so unusual that scientists have lasted decades to generally agree to be mushrooms, and there is still controversy of their affinity. Archeocyatha is sometimes incorrectly referred to as his own phylum. Instead of actively pumping water through themselves to extract nutrients such as mushrooms, archaeocyathids probably utilized passive flow.
As their name suggests,Archeocyathids were shaped roughly like cups, sometimes with only one porous wall, but more often with two concentric porous walls. The characteristics of these walls are used to classify archeocyathides and their apart. Like other mushrooms, Archeocyathids attached themselves to the seabed with a holdfast. Several archaeocyathide fossils have been found, indicating that some species were flat, such as pancakes.
Archeocyathid fossils can be found in large numbers in the lower Cambrian layers, which make up one of the most common fossils from the period. In several million years, they have diversified to hundreds of species of fascinating cup shapes and created the first cliffs of the planet. These Cambrian cliffs were the first of the three main pulses of reef building in the history of life on Earth. Archeocyathide cliffs would help encourage Evolution from the earliest Cambrian ecosystems by providing places where they hideED predators and creates a complex habitat.
Archeocyathids generally lived in shallow tropical waters, in the Photic zone where enough light could be provided. Archeocyathide fossils often occur with fossils of cyanobacteria with which they would be symbiotic. By providing a relatively safe place for cyanobacteria colonies to life and reproduction, Archeocyathids could redirect bacteria tax by regular digestion.
It is not known why Archeocyathids disappeared. This could have been caused by the competition of other filter feeders, the development of hyper successful predators or for other reason. Archeocyathids are the only main group of mushrooms without live representatives.