* Protists evolved some 1,500 mya
• Plants, animals, and fungi trace their ancestry to protists
* Molecular data tells that animals and fungi shared a common ancestor after plants evolved
• Flagellated unicellular protist, was most likely the common ancestor
• Animals and fungi are more closely related to each other than either is to plants.
* Description of fungal structure applies best to the zygospore fungi, sac fungi, and the club fungi.
* Fungal anatomy doesn’t lend itself to becoming fossilized
• Probably evolved earlier than the earliest known fungal fossil dated 450 mya