Fungal palynomorphs recovered from recent river deposits, Luangwa Valley, Zambia

Abstract Fifty‐five forms of fungal palynomorphs including spores, fragments of hyphae, and fruiting bodies were recovered from recently deposited sediments of the Luangwa River in Zambia. Twenty forms (36%) are comparable to the propagules of known living genera. The diversity of form and wall structure indicates the kinds of fungal palynomorphs which can be expected to withstand standard palynological techniques employed in the processing of fine grained siltstone and mudstone sediments. The known habitat and host preference of many of the identified forms can conceivably be used to deduce the environmental conditions of similar fossil fungal floras recovered from Neogene sediments. No new taxa are proposed.