An ancient life form that lived around 420 million years ago fundamentally challenges everything we think we know about evolution and the classification of species. Over the decades, the scientific community was unable to agree on what this ancient life form actually was. An ancient life form on an extinct evolutionary branchRecent research, however, has fundamentally overturned this view. This contradictory combination – a fungus-like structure paired with plant-like chemical characteristics – further strengthens the idea that Prototaxites represents a completely distinct ancient life form. Further research will be required to gain a more precise understanding of what this ancient life form was, how it functioned, and what ultimately led to its extinction.