Washington, Apr 24 : Scientists at the University of Chicago and the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, have found new evidence to finally resolve the identity of one of the weirdest organism ever to inhabit Earth.

Chemical analysis has verified the mysterious prehistoric organism as a fungus. Called Prototaxites (pronounced pro-toe-tax-eye-tees), the organism went extinct approximately 350 million years ago.

Prototaxites has generated controversy for more than a century.

Originally classified as a conifer, scientists later argued that it was lichen, a type of algae or a fungus.

But whatever they were, with tree like trunks at more than 20 feet tall, they were the largest-known organisms on land in its day.

“No matter what argument you put forth, people say, well, that’s crazy. That doesn’t make any sense. A 20-foot-tall fungus doesn’t make any sense. Neither does a 20-foot-tall algae make any sense, but here’s the fossil,” said C. Kevin Boyce, an Assistant Professor in Geophysical Sciences at Chicago.

The fungus classification first emerged in 1919, with Francis Hueber of the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., reviving the idea in 2001. His detailed studies of internal structure have provided the strongest anatomical evidence that Prototaxites is not a plant, but a fungus.

“Fran Hueber has contributed more to our understanding of Prototaxites than anyone else, living or dead. He built up a convincing case based on the internal structure of the beast that it was a giant fungus, but agonized over the fact that he was never able to find a smoking gun in the form of reproductive structures that would convince the world that it was indeed a fungus,” said Carol Hotton, also of the National Museum of Natural History.

The findings appear in the May issue of the journal of Geology, published by the Geographical Society of America. (ANI)