Devonian Giants Redefined: Prototaxites Reclassified as a Lost Eukaryotic Lineage
A Science Advances study shows Prototaxites taiti were not fungi, plants, or animals but a completely unknown extinct eukaryotic lineage. Fossils from Rhynie, Scotland reveal towering, pillar-like structures up to about 8 meters tall and over 3 feet wide that dominated Devonian landscapes around 400 million years ago, reshaping our understanding of early land ecosystems and the evolutionary tree of life.