Scottish Giant Fossil Rewrites Devonian Life on Land

A 410-million-year-old Prototaxites fossil from Aberdeenshire, Scotland, added to National Museums Scotland, suggests an extinct eukaryotic lineage distinct from plants and fungi; at up to eight meters tall, it was a trunk-like life form that dominated Devonian landscapes, and researchers say its morphology and molecular fingerprint set it apart from fungi and other known organisms, supporting the idea of an independent evolutionary experiment in early complex life.