As life crept onto land, fungi evolved threadlike filaments called hyphae. These microscopic strands could penetrate rock, soil, and decaying material, extracting nutrients molecule by molecule. The shift from swimming spores to spreading filaments marked fungi’s true terrestrial breakthrough.
Hyphae break rock
~480 MYA (+/- 20 million)
Filamentous growth (hyphae); terrestrial colonization
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