<P> The evolution of fungi has been going on since fungi diverged from other life around 1.5 billion years ago, (Wang et al., 1999) with the glomaleans branching from the "higher fungi" at ~ 570 million years ago, according to DNA analysis . (Schüssler et al., 2001; Tehler et al., 2000) Fungi probably colonized the land during the Cambrian, over 500 million years ago, (Taylor & Osborn, 1996) but terrestrial fossils only become uncontroversial and common during the Devonian, 400 million years ago . </P> <P> A rich diversity of fungi is known from the lower Devonian Rhynie chert; an earlier record is absent . Since fungi do not biomineralise, they do not readily enter the fossil record; there are only three claims of early fungi . One from the Ordovician has been dismissed on the grounds that it lacks any distinctly fungal features, and is held by many to be contamination; the position of a "probable" Proterozoic fungus is still not established, and it may represent a stem group fungus . There is also a case for a fungal affinity for the enigmatic microfossil Ornatifilum . Since the fungi form a sister group to the animals, the two lineages must have diverged before the first animal lineages, which are known from fossils as early as the Ediacaran . </P>

When did the first fungi appear on earth