Chinese Scientists Uncover 50-Cm Dianjunus rex, Creating New Fungal Family From 65 Million Years Ago
Updated
Updated · India Today · Oct 13
Chinese Scientists Uncover 50-Cm Dianjunus rex, Creating New Fungal Family From 65 Million Years Ago
3 articles · Updated · India Today · Oct 13
Summary
Dianjunus rex, found in Yunnan forests, grows up to 50 centimeters tall and 2.2 kilograms, giving Ascomycota its largest known fruiting body and adding a previously unknown species, genus and family.
Field teams spotted the whitish stromata near woody roots of Chinese cork oak, then confirmed through lab cultivation, morphological study and genetic analysis that the fungus belonged to a new lineage named Dianjunaceae.
DNA molecular-clock comparisons with hundreds of fungi dated the family's origin to about 65 million years ago, roughly 1 million years after the dinosaur-killing Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction.
Researchers said post-extinction forest shifts may have opened niches for wood-decomposing fungi, while the species' unusual height could improve spore dispersal through dense vegetation despite high energy costs.
The find, published in Frontiers in Fungal Biology, underscores how much fungal diversity remains undocumented in East Asian forests where rugged terrain and brief fruiting seasons hinder surveys.